Pokemon Spirits
by Luna the Zekrom
Summary: Crystal wakes up one day and finds herself in a strange world where people have had their DNA altered to give them magical powers. The only way to escape from their captors, a mysterious group called Team Legend, is to catch a powerful being called a spirit. Along with her new friend Blue, can Crystal capture a spirit and escape? Better summary inside.
1. Chapter 1: Loneliness and Dreams

Full Summary: Crystal has been seeing strange things, even before she was kidnapped. At least they say she was kidnapped... In truth, Crystal just woke up into this strange world and can't leave. It's all like a dream- one where she can't wake up. The real world lies hauntingly behind her closed eyes, but she can't begin to guess at the link between it and the strange world she finds herself in. More and more mysteries build up with the arrival of the spirits: strange beings that only Crystal can see. The spirits were released into the world, and there is nothing they hate more than being confined. But to catch one is to discover the secret of escaping... and stranger still, it all ties into a sinister plan formed by the forces of their captivity. Forging an unlikely friendship with a fellow prisoner called Blue, Crystal sets off to catch a spirit, solve the mysteries, free her newfound friends, and put an end to the evilest of plans.

AN: Hi there! This is my first FanFiction story. Thanks for giving it a try! I know the summary sounds a little weird, but it was written for my own story that this idea is based off of. I'm hoping to publish it as a real story one day, so if you want to borrow any of the ideas from it, please ask first.

Also, you might want to know that the characters' personalities are changed just a little because they had to be like my characters in the original idea. I matched each character up (and created a few extras) to make them fit as well as possible, but some of them are going to be a little out of character (or a lot *cough* Crystal's mom *cough*).

Anyways, thanks so much for reading my story! Criticism is appreciated, but please be nice about it, because I'm really shy about my stories, and if your comment is phrased harshly, it might make me cry. (I'm kind of kidding, but at the same time, it _would _really hurt my feelings).

Now that this mile long author's note and summary are over, read on and enjoy the story. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of the characters (except for the spirits and any of my own characters that I may add later on).

Warning: This story will contain a few mentions of religion, but nothing deeper than that. I don't want to insult anyone, so I just wanted to warn you in case you're easily offended about religion, even if it's just mentioned. If you aren't, read on; if you are, read on at your own risk or please just don't read the story. Thank you for your time.

Chapter One: Loneliness and Dreams

Crystal was having a rotten day.

She was used to the fact that no one took her seriously—that was nothing new—but knowing that didn't change the fact that it hurt. No one was ever really _mean_ to her, but maybe even being bullied would be better than being completely ignored. Most of the time she felt like no one was aware of her existence besides her parents and teachers. It wasn't as if everyone was giving her the silent treatment, but being smart (and a little shy) made her seem hard to approach for some reason. It was probably because she was defensive whenever someone talked to her, but that was only because she had been alone for so long and didn't exactly know how to talk to people.

In any case, the only time any of Crystal's fellow students talked to her was when they wanted an answer to a difficult math problem, or had forgotten to do their homework and were imploring her to do it for them. Her problem was that people only saw her as a brain, ready to help them get out of doing work. She used to help when she was younger and naïve, and thought that giving someone an answer would finally get them to see that she was smart and nice, and would be a good friend to have.

Needless to say, that wasn't the case. Now Crystal was smarter than that, and knew that people just wanted to use her. After she was done doing what people wanted her to, she was only left all alone again. So she had become stronger, retorting with the best comebacks she could think of whenever people tried to manipulate her into doing what they wanted. In high school, it was usually stupid boys daring each other to ask her out. Crystal had fallen for it exactly one time, and that one time ended with the boy laughing with his friends about it. Crystal had run home in tears that day, and promised herself she would never cry again about such stupid things.

Sometimes it was hard to keep that promise, but she always did somehow. Even so, Crystal wasn't really happy with her life. She would never be pushed far enough to commit suicide—she was stronger than that—but each day was stressful in more ways than one. No matter how smart Crystal was, school work was still challenging. And it didn't help that she didn't really have any friends, and was too surrounded by walls built around years of loneliness to make any.

But Crystal was determined.

She always walked home with her head held high, refusing to let anyone see her feeling down. Today especially though, it was hard. Crystal had gotten a lower grade than she had expected on her essay, and although it wasn't a bad grade (an 83% was decent), she usually relied on getting 90's to cheer her up after a long day of working hard in every class. The worst part is that one of her classmates had done better than her, and was bragging to everyone about how he had gotten a better grade than "the genius". The nickname was flattering, and Crystal was sure that the boy hadn't meant to make her feel bad, but it still hurt, especially since she wasn't quite sure the boy had even bothered to remember her real name. As proud as she was of her intelligence, there was more to her than brains, but no one seemed to know that.

Crystal walked home quickly, squeezing her eyes shut to force away the tears that welled in their corners. _Stop it Crys, _she scolded herself. _You're stronger than that!_

She opened her eyes and continued walking, focusing on the scenery to prevent herself from crying. She was glad she was the only one there… well, everyone besides a lone Umbreon, sitting at the corner and scratching its ear. It looked at her thoughtfully as she approached, and flashed the rings around its ears and tail in an odd pulsing pattern. It was strangely comforting, even though the Umbreon obviously had no idea about Crystal's problems.

"Hi there," she said in an only slightly choked up voice, and held her hand out to the Pokémon. It studied her with intelligent red eyes, tilted its head to one side, and flashed the same pattern of lights at her again. It maintained the same distance from her, sitting with its front paws together between its back paws. Crystal took another small step towards it and the Umbreon leapt to its paws, turning and bounding away along the sidewalk. Slightly disappointed, Crystal continued on her way home. She didn't have a Pokémon of her own, but she had always been fascinated by them.

Crystal thought about the Umbreon for the rest of her walk home, feeling relieved when she finally got there. Now she could hide in her room for the rest of the day, doing homework and blasting her favorite songs. That usually worked when Crystal was upset and wanted to forget about what was bothering her. Her mind always seemed scattered and focusing on one single thing never helped. Singing along to a loud song would block out the things that bothered her and help her focus on her homework.

Crystal knocked on the door until her mom opened it, faked a smile, said school was great, and discreetly fled upstairs to her room. She went inside and closed the door behind her, leaning against it and closing her eyes while taking deep breaths to restore her composure. She locked the door and pulled a heavy bin of… stuff… up to block it for good measure. Crystal knew that no one could get in anyway, but it made her feel a little better, and that was the main idea right now.

She looked around her room, at the scattered pieces of scrunched up paper—the remains of failed attempts at her past assignments. (Crystal knew that she was a bit of a perfectionist, but why should she bother with anything less than her best?) She realized she should clean up her room, but wasn't motivated. One would expect Crystal, who always had her work neat and nearly perfect, to have a well-organized room, but she thought her room in its natural state was better—scrambled up and confusing, like her most deep and complicated thoughts. She knew where everything was anyway, so it didn't really matter.

She sat at her desk, throwing herself into her homework with a vengeance. She played her favorite C.D. at the loudest volume that didn't shake the house, smiling to herself as she could finally think clearly. To work well, Crystal had to be somewhere either extremely quiet or extremely loud. She had no idea why, but that was the way she had the least distractions, and could completely lose herself in what she was doing.

She worked for hours, putting her best effort into each assignment. Everyone else she knew worked quite quickly, even when they were being thorough, but Crystal always spent the rest of the day on homework. School, homework, school, homework—it was an endless cycle in her world.

Crystal eventually finished her homework (and had played the C.D. over again a few times, not even stopping to eat) by ten o'clock. By that time, she was exhausted by the non-stop work, and didn't even change into pajamas or even crawl into bed before she fell asleep. When her mom came to her room to check on her after her C.D. had finished playing for the fifth time, she found Crystal curled up in her chair, using her math textbook as a pillow. Her mom smiled a little sadly, turning off the light and kissing Crystal on the forehead—gently, so she wouldn't wake her up.

Crystal dreamed of a Pokémon running through the woods, its paws thumping on the earthy ground. It was an Umbreon, its red eyes and yellow markings glowing in the faint light of the moon. The Pokémon bounded along, ignoring the others it passed, as if it were looking for someone special.

The Umbreon ran through the trees until it came to a lake with crystal clear water and swirling mist. It suddenly skidded to a halt at the edge of the lake, sending up a spray of soil, but thankfully—and mysteriously—there was no one there to be hit by the dirt it had sent flying. The Umbreon looked around with an intense, yet unreadable expression. The thoughtful look in its eyes surprised Crystal; she had never seen such a human-like intelligence in a Pokémon. But when she thought about it, she realized that she had—in the Umbreon she had passed by on the way home from school. She held her breath as she watched, wondering if it was the same Umbreon, and was not surprised at all when it lit up its markings in the same pulsing pattern.

The Umbreon looked out across the lake, waiting as if it wanted someone to step out onto the water. Crystal wondered if she could—it was only a dream after all—and imagined herself walking to stand on the lake's surface. She felt her body solidify and suddenly she was part of the dream instead of watching from afar.

The Umbreon tensed as Crystal stepped onto the water. Amazingly, the lake's surface held her weight, and her feet merely made ripples in it rather than sinking in with a huge splash. The water felt like something solid beneath her feet.

_Is it me?_ Crystal asked. _The one you're looking for?_

The Umbreon twitched its ears and nodded slowly. Its eyes never left Crystal's face, even as it walked out onto the lake to stand before her. The ring markings on its ears and tail lit up again, pulsing its signature pattern.

_What does the pattern mean? _ Crystal asked curiously.

_There are no words for what is in the heart. _Along with the voice came a faint breeze, playing with Crystal's hair. She felt as if she were hearing the words of a wise, ancient being. But it couldn't be… it was only a Pokémon!

The Pokémon turned away, glancing back out of the corner of one red eye. _You should leave as soon as you can._

_Why? _Crystal asked, feeling a little hurt. _It's so beautiful here. _She looked out at the rest of the lake, which seemed to glow from within. The fog that hung over it twisted into strange shapes, like abstract art. When she turned back to the Umbreon, waiting for it to answer her question, it said nothing, just watched her warily for a moment before bounding off into the darkness, leaving nothing behind to show that it had been there but the ripples on the lake where it had been standing a moment before.


	2. Chapter 2: Blue the Vanisher

AN: Thanks so much to **Pure Gamer** and **TheFinalElements** for reading the first chapter! I'm not exaggerating when I say that your reviews made my day. I never expected anyone to be so impressed by my writing. :)

Pure Gamer: Thanks! I agree that first FanFictions aren't always written smoothly, but I've been writing my own stories since I was 7, so hopefully all of my FanFictions will be pretty decent. :) I also agree that the story is a little odd, but I guess that's only expected when the idea came from a dream I had once. If anything is confusing, don't hesitate to tell me, and I'll do my best to clear it up in the next chapter.

TheFinalElements: You have no idea how happy I was when I read your review! I actually think I got a bit teary eyed! And about the school, homework, school, homework- that's my life too. :D

Anyways, here's the next chapter. I'm not exactly as happy with this as the first chapter, but it's the best I can do. I'll let you read it and make your own opinion before I complain about it, though. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nothing's changed since yesterday. In other words, I still don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter Two: Blue the Vanisher

Crystal had no idea how to get out of the dream once she'd entered it. She tried closing her eyes and imagining waking up, but that didn't work. Neither did pinching herself, curling up on the ground under a tree and trying to fall asleep, or anything else she could think to do. Eventually she decided to follow the Umbreon. She wanted to find out how to leave, and the Pokémon had told her to leave as soon as she could, so it must have known the way out. Plus, the Umbreon could _talk_, at least in the dream, and Crystal wanted to figure out what other unusual talents it might have.

Crystal set off in the direction that the Pokémon had gone, thinking about the strangeness of the situation. She had never had a dream before that seemed so _real_, and felt like it had to be more than just a figment of her imagination. Another person might just dismiss it, but Crystal liked fantasy stories and couldn't help but hope that she could possibly be in one of her own. After all, anything had to be better than the lonely life she was living now.

Crystal eventually felt a tingling feeling as she walked deeper and deeper into the shadowy trees, far beyond the reach of the lake's eerie glow. She hesitated for a moment, feeling the urge to turn back, but pushed onward into the darkness. She'd come too far, both physically and in her hope of adventure, to give up trying to find the Pokémon. The Umbreon she was following seemed to be like a link between her world and the one she knew was there if she made it out of the forest. Crystal felt a pang of deep certainty that there was something out there for her to find, something the Umbreon would lead her to if she gave it a chance.

The darkness cleared and Crystal suddenly found herself standing in a long hallway, with identical doors on either side for as far as she could see. The end of the hall she was standing in now was still only dimly lit, but Crystal could make out a small light at the opposite end of the hall. She didn't question the fact that she had just been in a forest moments before, and hadn't passed through a door. It _was_ a dream, after all. In her dreams, Pokémon talked. In her dreams, she could stand on water.

Crystal began to run, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of her echoing footsteps. She had to reach the end of the hallway. Her destiny waited for her there. Crystal ran on until she reached the light. It washed over her, binding her through her closed eyelids. And once more everything faded into darkness.

"Wake up…" Crystal heard someone say. The voice sounded impatient and slightly concerned at the same time. It didn't sound quite right, as if the person who it belonged to was speaking underwater. Crystal's thoughts blurred together as if she were underwater too. But she couldn't be underwater because she was still breathing.

Crystal attempted to open her eyes to see who was speaking, but her eyelids felt too heavy to move. She thought hard, her head throbbing as she tried to remember what was going on. If someone was waking her up… that had to mean she had slept through her alarm clock and was going to be late for school!

"Wahhh!" Crystal yelled, sitting bolt upright in alarm.

The person that had been leaning over her yelped in surprise and flinched. She accidently knocked over something behind her, which fell to the ground with a loud crash that made Crystal's ears ring.

It was only then that Crystal realized that she was definitely not in her room or any part of her house, and that the person waking her up was not her mom. The girl looked a year or two older than Crystal, and had long brown hair and deep blue eyes. She was glaring accusingly at Crystal as if the racket had been her fault. Technically, it was. "Sorry," Crystal said meekly. "I thought I was somewhere else."

She realized with a pang of surprise that the dream must have been real. How else could she have ended up here? The last thing she remembered was running down a long hall and into the light. The light must have been the entrance to this place, she decided, although it didn't seem so bright any more.

"Where else did you think you might have been?" the other girl demanded, scowling as if Crystal's answer was unacceptable. Crystal wondered somewhat more clearly where she was, and why this girl was mad at her.

"My house?" she guessed pathetically. She decided to be truthful, hoping that being honest would gain her a little more sympathy from the other girl. "I don't know where I am now, but I was just there not too long ago." The other girl studied her suspiciously, but eventually she seemed to make a decision, and her face softened slightly. Crystal didn't show it, but was relieved that the girl believed her.

"I'm Blue," she said in a tone that Crystal couldn't read, holding out one hand. Crystal took it and the other girl pulled her to her feet.

"My name's Crystal," Crystal offered, but Blue was no longer paying attention to what she had to say. Crystal sighed inwardly. This situation was almost as familiar as it was confusing. She wasn't all too surprised that she was being ignored once again. The confusing part, needless to say, was that Crystal had appeared in a strange place because a Pokémon had led her there in a dream. She wondered how much of it was real. Had she been in a real forest and come here through a real hallway, or had they been only her imagination? How exactly had she gotten here?

"C'mon," Blue said, glancing around warily. "We can't stay here."

"Here" appeared to be a storage room of some sort. Crystal looked around with curious blue eyes, still wondering how exactly she'd gotten from a place with blinding light to a room in a building she had probably never seen before. She didn't know exactly where she was. In fact, she didn't really have any idea.

Blue didn't let go of Crystal's hand, instead pulling her along as she opened the door. She peered outside for a moment, checking to see if the coast was clear, before dashing along the corridor it led to. Crystal almost tripped, not expecting the sudden sprint, but managed to keep up. "Where are we going?" she asked. Her voice came out louder and slightly more panicked than she would've liked.

Blue glanced back at her with a scowl. "Away."

"That's not an answer!" Crystal said indignantly.

The other girl's look turned into a glare. "I was hiding! You blew my cover, so now we have to get away. Don't ask any more questions! I'll explain everything later… I promise… but for now we have to be quiet."

Crystal obeyed and tried to run more silently. Blue never slowed down, even as she raced around corners and through a few doorways. She seemed to know where she was going by heart. Crystal hoped she did, but she didn't think it was possible to get even more lost/confused than she was now, so it didn't really matter.

Eventually they came to a door that looked, to Crystal, exactly like all the others in the hallway. The hall looked sort of like the one in Crystal's dream, but something told her that it wasn't the same place.

Blue glanced at Crystal briefly before pulling a set of keys out of her pocket. The older girl was only slightly out of breath, and no longer seemed concerned.

Crystal was relieved and relaxed slightly. Whatever Blue thought could be chasing them didn't seem like something she would want to encounter, but it seemed to have lost them. The other girl didn't pay Crystal much attention as she found the right key and unlocked the door, but when it opened, she stepped back to let Crystal go in first. Crystal gave her a grateful smile. Blue smiled faintly back, and Crystal thought that her smile was definitely better than the scowl she had been wearing earlier.

"So," Crystal began, as Blue locked the door behind them. "Where are we?" The best thing to start with, in her opinion, was the simple questions. She knew Blue would explain everything eventually, but Crystal wanted to regain her bearings before learning anything else about what was going on. She was glad she was able to maintain her calm personality during a crisis, but it wouldn't last long if she got any more confused.

The other girl tilted her head to one side. "We're in my room, for starters. But if you want the big picture, you're going to have to tell me your side of the story first. I just found you unconscious outside of the main building and brought you inside to the first unlocked room I could think of. I need to figure out how much you know if I want to explain everything to you."

So Crystal told her about everything: the gist of her life so far, the Umbreon she had seen sitting on the corner of her street, the dream in the woods, and the hallway she had run through to get here; everything until she had blacked out and woken up to see Blue standing over her. The other girl listened to her better than Crystal had expected, and it kind of unnerved her. She wasn't used to being listened to. She was used to being ignored and alone. But at the same time, it was a relief to get the whole story out, to tell _someone _how she felt, even if she didn't like talking about herself.

"So you just woke up here?" Blue summed up.

Crystal nodded, not used to talking so much.

"Wow," the other girl said, whistling appreciatively. "You've got a lot to learn, so you'd better listen up. You see, you're the only one to just wake up here, so I don't know how you got here any more than you do. The rest of us were kidnapped."

Crystal's eyes widened, and Blue laughed.

"It's no big deal," she said with a shrug, although Crystal noticed that her voice had a hint of bitterness in it. "I'm used to it by now. I had to adapt quickly if I wanted to survive. I don't know exactly what happened to me once they brought me here, but I remember being knocked out, and waking up… different."

"Different?" Crystal echoed. "What do you mean by that?"

"This," the other girl said, holding out one hand. Slowly it turned transparent and faded away, as if it was vanishing into thin air. Crystal squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, wondering if she was imagining things, but when she opened them, Blue's hand was still invisible. Blue was so quiet that Crystal almost forgot she was there, despite the fact that she was looking straight at her.

"I'm a Vanisher," Blue explained at last, in a quiet voice. "My best guess is that whatever they did to me when I was unconscious changed my DNA so I was able to do this." Her hand reappeared, and Blue clenched it into a fist. Her voice was shaking slightly, and Crystal was unsure if it was with rage, fear, or sadness. With Blue, or anyone she had just met, it was impossible to tell.

"You're lucky," Blue said, snapping her out of her reverie. "You just appeared here, so you don't have a power. Everyone else here has one. Most of them act differently because of it. It's like it wasn't just their bodies that were changed, but also what's inside." She blinked rapidly, like she was trying not to cry. Crystal was concerned, but when Blue looked up, her eyes were determined.

"I won't let them hurt you too," she said fiercely. "All of us are beyond saving, but not you. I'll come up with a way to get you out of here, don't worry."

"Thanks," Crystal said, touched by Blue's determination.

"In the meantime," the Vanisher said with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, "you'll have to pretend you're one of us. You said you're smart, right?"

Crystal nodded slowly, wondering what Blue was up to.

"Great," the other girl said with a triumphant smirk. "That'll be your power. You have to act like your DNA had been altered to make you super smart. I'll have to tell you how everything works here, so you won't be caught off guard, but using your talents to your advantage shouldn't be that hard. You can do that, right?"

"I-I think so," Crystal replied nervously. She was starting to think that Blue was even more of a genius than she was. She knew she wouldn't have been able to come up with a plan like that.

"Great," Blue repeated in satisfaction. "Our grand plan starts tomorrow."

AN: So there you have it: Chapter Two. I personally thought it was a little rushed, especially the ending, but I couldn't come up with a better way to write it. I also noticed that I didn't explain who was chasing Crystal and Blue. :l I tried to go back and add it in somewhere, but it just didn't fit. Same thing for the fact that they can't leave, but maybe that's just an obvious fact. I don't know, especially because I sometimes forget that my readers don't know everything I do. In any case, I'll try to work it into the next chapter in a way that flows with the story and makes sense.

(You see, this is why I had to come to FanFiction. I have TERRIBLE self-esteem when it comes to writing, and I'm always picking on myself. I know it's not _that_ bad, but Crystal's not the only perfectionist around.)

So anyways, please review and tell me what you think: if you liked the chapter, agree/disagree with my critique, etc. Once again, thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: Plans for Escape (Part 1)

AN: Sorry for the wait everyone! (Well... everyone who cares about this story... *crickets*... nah, I'm just kidding. Obviously someone must care, because I have three reviews, which I am grateful for.)

Anyways, chapter three was being such a PAIN, so I decided to divide it into two chapters so you wouldn't have to wait five years for me to update. This chapter was only supposed to be a small part of chapter three (maybe one or two pages), but as you can see, that didn't happen (it ended up being the longest chapter so far). It's actually better this way though, because a lot of stuff in this chapter is important.

Thanks to **TheFinalElements** for reviewing the second chapter. :) Don't worry, Yellow will show up soon (in chapter five, I think, as long as I don't have a repeat of this chapter's situation).

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter Three: Plans for Escape (Part One)

Blue wouldn't tell Crystal anything else about the "Grand Plan" she was coming up with, insisting that it was getting late and they needed rest. Crystal attempted to get more answers by asking what they had to rest for, but Blue shooed her out into the hall, and would only say that "a genius needs time to work her magic."

Crystal let the matter drop as Blue led the way through the building in search of a place for her to stay for the night. Crystal wished she could stay with Blue—she didn't want to be alone again—but the older girl told her that it wasn't safe. Crystal perked up at Blue's words. Now was her chance to badger her new friend for more information about a different subject: the people who had kidnapped her and the other prisoners, whom Crystal had yet to encounter.

"Safe from what?" she prompted. "Are you hiding me now from the same thing that was chasing us earlier?" She thought she knew the answer—it was likely that Blue's kidnappers wouldn't stray far from their captives—but wasn't sure. She didn't want to assume she knew what was going on… or say what she was thinking aloud. It was better by far to let Blue do most of the talking and master the part of asking stupid questions instead.

"Yes," Blue replied tensely. "Our captors—mine and the unfortunate others that have had our DNA messed with. The people who captured us are mysterious… and go by the name Team Legend. They hardly ever show their faces, but when they do, it's not good. It's not like we can get away, so they don't feel the need to get involved in what we do unless it's something they don't like. When we try to escape, or attack their tower… that's when Legend decides to send their grunts to put us in our place."

"You've tried both of those?" Crystal guessed.

"If it's anything you can think of, I've probably tried it," Blue confirmed with a hint of pride in her voice. She was thoughtful for a moment before adding, "And then some ideas you probably wouldn't."

Crystal wondered if Blue meant ideas Crystal wouldn't come up with, or ideas that she could but probably wouldn't be reckless enough to try. Studying her new friend, she decided that the answer was probably both. She certainly seemed brave enough to do anything. Crystal felt a pang of envy. She was too shy and damaged by years of loneliness to have any real courage.

"Here we are," Blue announced, coming to a stop outside a door that Crystal wouldn't have been able to differentiate from the others. She whistled a cheerful tune as she went through all her keys, looking for the one that fit the door's lock. Crystal realized that she'd begun to admire the other girl. Not only was she brave, but also determined and optimistic, despite all the hardships she'd obviously gone through after being kidnapped by Team Legend. Crystal could only wish for that kind of strength.

"How do you tell all the doors apart?" Crystal asked, studying Blue intently as she selected a key from her collection and turned it expertly in the lock. "I'd have gotten lost a long time ago if you weren't here to guide me."

"They're numbered," Blue replied, pointing to the engraved plate above the door as she opened it and stepped aside to let Crystal go in. "This is room A49. 'A' is the letter representing which of the main halls to use to get to the room, '4' is the number of the hall branching off the main one, and '9' is the room's individual number. It's pretty simple once someone explains it to you. If you have to figure it out, on the other hand…" She sighed and shook her head. "In any case, you can stay here. My room is C83, in case you need to find it. It's on the other side of the building, which is shaped like a giant square, with rooms with stairs at the corners. Ignore the stairs, but you'll have to pass through the rooms they're in to get to the other halls. Once you go out into your main hall (hall 'A'), head left to go through hall 'B' and right to use hall 'D'. It doesn't matter which of those you go through, because my room's in hall 'C', which if you're looking at the building from above is parallel to hall 'A'. Get it?"

Crystal's headache was beginning to get worse, thanks to the somewhat complicated directions, but she was able to envision the building's layout. "I think so," she said with a half-hearted smile, "but if I don't show up at your room in a few hours tomorrow, you can assume I've gotten lost."

Blue laughed, but not unkindly. "I'll come to you instead."

Crystal hesitated in the doorway. "Whose room is this?"

Blue's smile faltered. "This is Sapphire's room. She hasn't used it in a while though. Right now, she's probably in the dungeons, being punished. She's a little… wild, and that doesn't settle well with Team Legend. Sapphire's always trying to escape and stuff, so she's always chained up nowadays. Don't worry about messing her room up; you probably can't be any more careless than Sapphire herself."

Crystal couldn't help but smile a little, although she did feel bad for Sapphire. It must be rough to be chained up in a dungeon all the time, just because you wanted freedom. Crystal wondered what powers Sapphire had been given. Either she was even more determined to escape than Blue (which Crystal seriously doubted), or she was a lot closer in her attempts. Either way, Team Legend had obviously deemed her more of a threat, and that's why Sapphire was constantly being locked up.

"Wait," Crystal said. "I have two questions for you. One, why do you have the key to someone else's room? And two—more importantly—if you have invisibility powers, why haven't you succeeded in escaping? Shouldn't you be able to just vanish and sneak past all the guards without any difficulty?"

Blue completely ignored the first question, which just made Crystal all the more curious, and shook her head sadly in response to the second. "That won't work. If it did, I'd be long gone by now, but… I'll show you tomorrow why it can't. Plus, even if I did use my powers, they wouldn't help you."

Crystal gave the other girl a puzzled look, but Blue either didn't notice it or didn't seem willing to explain further now. "I have to go now," she said, glancing down the hall warily, as if she half-expected a Team Legend grunt to emerge from one of the doors and start chasing her. "Remember, if anyone notices you—doesn't matter if they're prisoners or members of Team Legend—pretend you're one of us and escape back to your room or mine as soon as you get the chance, okay?" She gave Crystal her key to the room.

Crystal nodded solemnly, and Blue relaxed slightly. She put her hands firmly on Crystal's shoulders and looked her in the eye. Her blazing blue gaze was unnervingly hard to read, almost as if she weren't even human. "I promise I'll find a way to get you out of here as soon as I get a chance. Just stay safe and unsuspected until then. I'll handle everything else from there."

"Thanks," Crystal said quietly.

"It's no big deal," Blue replied cheerfully. "See you tomorrow!" She released her grip on Crystal's shoulders and skipped off down the hall, whistling. Crystal watched her go with one eyebrow raised in confusion. Blue was definitely one of the strangest people she'd ever met.

Crystal went inside Sapphire's room, her eyes wandering the nearly empty space she had entered. In one corner, next to the single small window in the wall across from the door, was the bed. It was made neatly, and the rest of the room was just as organized, but there was dust clinging to every surface, supporting Blue's story about what had happened to Sapphire. The rebellious girl had nearly no possessions; nothing to remind her of her home. Crystal felt a pang of pity for Sapphire and all the other captives, who probably hadn't been home in a very long time.

Crystal felt as if disturbing anything would be like destroying something sacred, so she curled up on the bed on top of the covers rather than messing everything up. Despite Blue's dismissal of her worries of trashing the room, Crystal refused to just ignore Sapphire's organization and adjust the room to her own preference. After all she wouldn't be here long (or so she hoped), and it _was_ Sapphire's room.

Crystal didn't fall asleep immediately—after all, she had been unconscious most of the day—so she decided to think about everything Blue had told her. Apparently, Team Legend had kidnapped a bunch of teenagers (although she had no idea how many there were besides Blue and Sapphire), but didn't seem interested in them enough to even have guards inside the building that they lived in. They had done something to them (which Blue assumed was altering their DNA) to give them powers, and locked up the prisoners that were at threat to them, but allowed the others to do whatever they wanted (assuming that Blue actually had permission to wander the building). Crystal doubted that Team Legend had even built their prison either—the halls were empty, so there couldn't be as many captives as there were rooms in the building. So what did they do all the time, if they couldn't even be bothered to pay attention to people whose lives they had ruined?

It didn't add up. There must be more to the situation than Crystal knew.

Furthermore, why couldn't Blue's powers help her escape? And what ability could be so threatening to Team Legend that made them want to lock up Sapphire all the time? Why had they even given Sapphire that power in the first place if it was so dangerous to them? There were so many mysteries Crystal had to solve, even without taking into account the questions regarding her own side of the story. She still had no idea why the Umbreon she encountered had such unusual abilities. Her best guess was that perhaps Team Legend had altered it too. But if the Umbreon had escaped from them, why had it come back? Had it even come back at all, or had she gone the wrong way when trying to follow it in her dream? And if not, why had it chosen to lead her, of all people, to Team Legend's base? What did it think she could accomplish here?

Crystal sighed in frustration. She'd have to interrogate Blue in the morning for some of the answers. Maybe then she'd be able to solve the problems involving her new friend and the other prisoners. But she was still lost when it came to figuring out what was going on with the mysterious Umbreon.

Crystal finally fell asleep, still wondering if she'd ever solve all of the mysteries.

When Crystal woke up, there was no indication that it was morning. There were no birds chirping outside, and no light filled the room, despite the window next to the bed. Crystal looked out through it, but all she saw were storm clouds covering the sky and fog shrouding the rest of the world outside the building. Fog—the word made something click in her brain. If it was foggy outside, there was a pretty good chance that it was morning. Crystal got out of bed, glanced briefly around the room, and decided the best thing to do would be to wait in the hall for Blue.

When she came out of the room, Crystal realized that the lights were off in the hall. It was probably really early in the morning. She shouldn't expect Blue to arrive for a while, but decided to linger in case she was an early-riser too.

Crystal's eyes wandered the hallway almost absentmindedly, and came to rest on a familiar figure standing a few yards away from her door. She gasped as she recognized the Umbreon that had led her here, its red eyes boring into her from the shadows.

"You brought me here on purpose, didn't you?" she said, glaring at the Pokémon. It twitched its ears with an expression that was almost a smirk. The look on its face was eerily similar to Blue's when she was talking about the Grand Escape Plan.

Crystal gritted her teeth in frustration, lashing out at the Pokémon to try to scare it away. The Umbreon dodged her strike with a scowl, but didn't flee. It flashed its stripes at her as if it was trying to communicate, but she didn't understand it when she wasn't dreaming. The familiar pattern, however, reminded her of the times she had encountered the Pokémon before, and her anger ebbed.

"You're right," she said quietly. "I asked you to bring me here."

The Umbreon nodded slowly. And Crystal realized that she_ had_ asked to come here. Not with words, but in her hopes and dreams of adventure and her trust when she followed the Pokémon through the forest and the shadowed hall. All that had led to her waking up here. Everything she had gone through since meeting the Umbreon was the result of her own choices. If she blamed the Pokémon for bringing her to this place, she'd only be lying to herself. It seemed to think it was her destiny to be here, so it must be. It hadn't told her to come, only given her an opportunity by connecting what felt almost like two worlds, and Crystal had taken it.

"What is my destiny?" she asked the Umbreon. "Am I meant to only see this world once before I leave and never come back?"

The Pokémon watched her for a moment before shaking its head.

"Is my destiny to help Blue escape?" Crystal guessed again.

The Umbreon shook its head again, a faint growl in its throat. It seemed frustrated, like Crystal was searching in the wrong direction for the right answer. She thought about it, trying to come up with a guess that was different from both of her previous ones. She remembered following the Umbreon because she wanted to, not because it told her to. She thought about how she had wished for adventure and suddenly found herself in one.

"Are you trying to tell me that I make my own destiny?"

The Umbreon nodded, lighting up the markings on its ears and tail. It felt to Crystal like it was not just a message, but the Pokémon was handing her the power to make her own choices. _Maybe destiny is for those who are not brave enough or strong enough to make their own path, _Crystal thought. _Maybe this Pokémon is telling me that I have more power than I realize. _She felt more certainty that she was right than she had about anything else before.

"Thank you," she told the Umbreon, and it nodded in acknowledgement. Crystal closed her eyes, feeling free. She decided now that when she and Blue made their plan for escape, it wouldn't just be her who got away. _All of us are beyond saving, _Blue had said, _but not you. _Crystal had accepted it as fact, but she promised herself now that it wouldn't be true. She would make her own destiny in which both of them could have a second chance.

AN: So, what do you think? Please leave a review; they're the only way I can improve, both in my writing and my self-esteem. Whether you review or not (although I hope you do), thanks for reading! :)


	4. Chapter 4: Plans for Escape (Part 2)

AN: Thanks to **TheFinalElements** and **Red Zeppelin** for reviewing!

**TheFinalElements: **Your guesses about the other characters' powers are really interesting. I won't tell you what they are yet, but I will say that the power I gave Red is my favorite (although Blue's is a close second; I think invisibility really suits her because she was a thief). When you said,"Gold's power will be the ability to annoy everyone", I laughed because he really does annoy everyone. That's not his power, though, it's just a... talent. :D

I don't know if I'm going to put all the PokeDex Holders in the story or not, because a lot of them seem like they'd be hard to write about. The ones that definitely will be in the story are Crystal, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Red, and Sapphire. I don't know about everyone else, because I don't have powers for them all yet. So if you want, you can leave suggestions for powers for Green, Silver, and Emerald (I kind of have an idea of what Ruby's could be, although I'd accept another suggestion if it was better than the one I came up with) in the reviews.

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Chapter Four: Plans for Escape (Part Two)

By the time Blue came to find Crystal, the Umbreon had disappeared. Crystal didn't know if it had run off when Blue passed through the hall, or had simply vanished into thin air, although a part of her suspected the latter. She was a little disappointed that Blue hadn't gotten to see the mysterious Pokémon, but decided that it wasn't worth dwelling over. Hopefully Blue had a plan and they would be able to put it into action within the next few days.

Unfortunately, she didn't. When Crystal asked her about it, Blue suggested that she show Crystal around first, so she would have an idea of what Team Legend's hideout was like. After that, she could help with escape planning. It would take lots of work, after all, to come up with a plan that Team Legend hadn't already foreseen, and therefore, taken measures against.

"Team Legend's hideout is an island," Blue explained as they walked through the halls of the maze that was the main building. "It has really steep cliffs at the edges, though, which means you couldn't surf out even if you had a water-type Pokémon that knew the move. And you can't fly out either, because Team Legend would take away any flying-type Pokémon you had as a precaution. Wait—do you have a flying-type?" Blue looked at Crystal hopefully. "They wouldn't have taken away yours because they don't even know you're here."

Crystal felt a pang of guilt for squashing Blue's hope, but there was no point in lying. "No," she answered regretfully. "I don't have any Pokémon at all. What about you? Do you have a Pokémon?"

Blue didn't answer for a while, and when she did, she sounded angry. "I did, but they took him away. He's a Ditto named Ditty. Team Legend thought I might use him to try to escape. He's probably locked up now… and there's nothing I can do to help him. I don't like to think about it much, though. I feel like a horrible trainer whenever I do, even though it technically isn't my fault."

"I'm sorry," Crystal said sadly.

"Don't be," Blue replied. "It's not your fault either." She sped up, making Crystal have to jog to keep up with her. "There's the exit," she said, changing the subject. "We should hurry. We don't want to be spotted, even by the other prisoners."

Blue pushed open the door hesitantly, looking around to make sure the coast was clear before beckoning for Crystal to follow. The fog had faded, but it still wasn't sunny outside. Did light ever shine on Team Legend's headquarters?

Crystal stepped outside and was completely blown away by the sight that greeted her. The back door of the main building opened up to a path that led to what could only be Team Legend's tower. It looked as if it was growing out of the cliff behind it—it was made of rock that twisted impressively to form a spire. The building seemed to loom over them, throwing its shadow—which was faint because of the lack of sunlight—over the main building. It was intimidating, seeming to reach up and ensnare the clouds, and Crystal was impressed that Blue had had the courage to attack it in her attempts to gain Team Legend's attention.

"That's Team Legend's tower," Blue confirmed, and went on to explain everything Crystal needed to know about it. "We aren't allowed to go inside at all," she told the younger girl, seeming frustrated by the mere sight of the tower. "It looks deserted from the outside, but there are grunts guarding the lobby. Believe me, no matter what you try, you can't get past them. Team Legend always stays inside that tower, except for when they send their grunts to boss us around, or leave to kidnap more teenagers to experiment on." Disgust laced her voice, growing stronger with each word.

"Hold on—leave?" Crystal said, frowning as the thought occurred to her. "How do they do it? Maybe we can imitate them."

"Good idea, but we can't," Blue replied sympathetically. "They use flying-type Pokémon and fly from the top floor of their tower. We don't have any Pokémon, much less any flying-types. Plus, if we tried, we'd have to make it all the way up the tower without being caught. Needless to say, we'd end up in the dungeons for sure."

"At least we could rescue your Ditto while we were there," Crystal said, trying to make a joke that would cheer up her friend.

She smiled a little, but didn't laugh. "In any case, that plan wouldn't be very successful, and it would just attract unwanted attention to us. Remember, if you get caught, we risk letting Team Legend find out that you aren't really one of us. Do you have any other creative ideas, though?"

Crystal thought for a while. "What if we freed your Ditto and used him as a flying Pokémon? We could take off from somewhere not as well-known as the tower."

"That won't work either," Blue replied almost instantly, as if it had crossed her mind before. "First of all, I don't know where they're keeping Ditty—he's not in the dungeons— and secondly, the tower is the only place you can take off." She paused as if considering something, and came to a decision. "C'mon, I'll show you why."

Crystal followed as Blue ran off in a seemingly random direction. She appeared to be heading around the main building, but veered away from it when they reached the other side. Crystal wondered where Blue was taking her. She noticed that there weren't many other buildings on the island besides the main one and the tower, only what appeared to be a church. A church on the island of an evil organization's hideout? Crystal's curiosity spiked, but Blue ran past it without sparing it a second glance, leaving her all the more confused about where they were going.

Crystal also caught a glimpse of an ominous-looking cave, but Blue didn't stop there either. Crystal was glad; the place sent chills down her spine.

Eventually, Crystal realized that Blue was going to the very edge of the island. As the steep cliffs came into sight, Crystal realized why. Every few yards, an enormous rock pillar emerged from the ground, rising up before curving inwards. All the pillars curved towards the same point, the spot high above Crystal and Blue, where they would have met if they were tall enough. The pillars were huge, but their pointed tips were far apart, leaving a large, open hole that was big enough for a flying-type Pokémon to fit through without much difficulty. However, the hole was the only spot anything could fly through, because jagged spikes jutting off of each pillar barred the way between them. It was, in effect, a cage made of rock that trapped in everyone except those who could find a way through the hole at the top. That meant everyone except Team Legend.

"That's why we can't leave," Blue said dejectedly. "We're trapped in by the stone pillars. They weren't always this tall, or so I heard from my friend Red. He's been here far longer than I have, so he would know better than I do. He said that the pillars seem to grow taller every day. I don't know if that's true, but it feels like it is. It's almost as if the more trapped we feel, the more trapped we actually are."

"There must be a way to get to that hole," Crystal encouraged her. "We just need to find out how." She paused for a moment, wondering if there was another way to fly; without having to climb Team Legend's tower.

"Are there any wild Pokémon on the island?" she asked.

"I don't know," replied Blue thoughtfully. "Maybe in the cave. Why?"

"Maybe we can catch a Pokémon that's strong enough to chip away at one of the rock pillars until there's a big enough hole to escape through," Crystal said. "We may not have any Pokémon, but that doesn't mean we can't catch any."

"Do you even have any Pokéballs?" Blue asked doubtfully. She looked like she wanted to believe there was a way for them to escape, but didn't want to get her hopes up for nothing. Crystal knew she had to be confident if she wanted her friend to believe that they had a chance. Seeing the rock cage and being so close to freedom had taken away Blue's spirit. It felt almost as if the stone pillars had drained away her hope, and Crystal wanted to give it back to her.

"No," she replied firmly. "But we can always just try to befriend them. I have a feeling they want freedom from Team Legend just as much as we do."

"Befriend?" Blue echoed, sounding puzzled, as if it was a foreign word. She looked pensive for a moment before her eyes began to shine with the excitement of someone who has thought of a plan. "Of course! Crystal, that's a great idea!" Crystal was a little bewildered by her friend's sudden excitement, but Blue ignored her. "We won't be able to do it alone, but I have a friend who can help! Come on!"

AN: That's all for this chapter, but I think everyone can guess who Blue's friend is. I also have another question *cough* bribe for reviews *cough* for you all. In case something like the Chapter Three situation happens again, would you rather shorter chapters that I posted more quickly or longer ones that took more time?

Whether you answer the questions or not, please review and tell me what you think of the chapter. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: Yellow the Healer

AN: I am back with Chapter Five! Once again, this chapter was much longer than I wanted it to be, so its divided into Chapters Five and Six. Yellow is _so_ hard to write (that's what took me so long). She's not accurate at all! I'm sorry if Yellow is your favorite character, because she's probably not the Yellow you've been waiting for. I like how the chapter came out, but I feel like I'm disappointing all the Yellow fans. :(

Anyways, thanks to **TheFinalElements **for reviewing and giving me suggestions for powers. (Anyone who's reading this still can if you have more; I don't have a power for Green yet.) I'm going to give the power you suggested for Ruby to one of the other characters because it suits him more. And I'll give the power you suggested for Emerald to him because its really useful, but he's also going to have another power that my sister suggested because I just think its really funny.

This chapter, I'd like everyone to leave a review telling me who your favorite character from Pokémon Special/Adventures is. I only have ideas up to Chapter Ten or so (and a vague idea of the ending), so I'll do my best to put people's favorite characters in a lot. Even if you don't answer the question, please review! Reviews are really important to me, because I'm really curious to see what people think of my story. If you don't review, I'll just assume that you read the story, but don't care about it enough to leave a comment. You can leave any kind of review you want, even just "hi"; it shows me that you care!

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter Five: Yellow the Healer

Blue practically flew off towards the main building, leaving Crystal with no other choice but to follow her. Crystal was curious to meet Blue's friend, but hadn't the older girl recently told her that no one, not even the other prisoners, should find out about her existence? If Blue was friends with whoever they were going to for help, he or she was probably trustworthy, but the idea of revealing her identity as someone who didn't have powers was something Crystal was still uneasy about. Also, the more people she met, the more Crystal would feel bad about leaving them behind when she and Blue escaped from Team Legend. But they couldn't save everyone, mostly because it would make it nearly impossible to sneak away unnoticed if their group was too big.

"Tell me about your friend!" Crystal called to Blue as they ran.

"Her name's Yellow," Blue replied, slowing her pace to allow Crystal to catch up with her. "She's a little shy, but she's a really sweet person. You don't have to worry that she'll tell anyone about you."

"Are we going to tell her that I don't have powers?" Crystal asked warily.

Blue grimaced like she'd bitten into something sour. "No," she said eventually, "but I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew. It's hard to keep secrets from Yellow, mostly because she knows how to read people very well. She's quiet, but observant. It would be best if she didn't figure out our secret, but don't worry if she does. Yellow isn't spiteful enough to reveal something that someone wants to hide. In any case, there's no reason why she would tell anyone, much less Team Legend. Although I'm pretty sure she's the only one who isn't resentful towards them."

"She isn't?" Crystal asked. She couldn't imagine forgiving such an obviously bad group of people. They'd ruined Yellow's life too. Shouldn't she hate them for it?

"No," Blue snorted, seeming just as skeptical. "She says it's because her powers are part of who she is now. She's too peaceful to hate anything anyway. She's convinced that Team Legend must have a motive. Besides greed, that is." She sighed, both in weariness and frustration. "Yellow tries to see the good in everyone, but sometimes it blinds her from seeing how horrible people can be. She's not stupid, but she's too naïve for her own good. She's going to get hurt very badly one day, when I'm not around to prevent her from trusting the wrong people."

Crystal fell silent for a moment, trying to imagine what it must be like to be a good enough person to forgive Team Legend after all they'd done. Was it really worth all the hatred, when it was all in the past and nothing could change it now? Was all that was needed to fix everything forgiveness? She let out a harassed-sounding sigh. It seemed to her like all she knew was who she wasn't, not who she was, or even who she wanted to be. She wanted to be brave like Blue, and good like Yellow, but she knew she never could be. _And I know that I don't want to be a coward like Crystal._

"There she is," Blue said excitedly, pointing to a small figure standing in one of the stair rooms with her back to them. "Hey, YELLOW!" The other girl jumped at the sound of her voice, blinking at Blue in surprise as she grabbed her hands and danced in a happy circle around her. A small yellow Pokémon, which Crystal assumed belonged to Yellow, was sitting on the stairs and watched in puzzlement as Blue hugged the other girl as a friendly greeting.

"Hi Blue," said Yellow, looking a bit flustered as she put a hand on her straw hat to keep it from falling off. "Who's your new friend?" Her curious caramel-colored eyes fell on Crystal, who was holding out her hand for Yellow's Pokémon to sniff.

"I'm Crystal," she said with a slightly nervous smile. She had never been good at talking to people, and meeting someone new was especially nerve-wracking.

"My name's Yellow," the other girl said, holding out her hand for Crystal to shake with a shy smile in return. She had long blond hair that was swept up in a ponytail, and wore a straw hat with two feathers sticking jauntily out of it. She reminded Crystal of an elf, mostly because of her small figure, but her expression was far too sincere to belong to someone as crafty as an imp. She was at least a foot shorter than Crystal, but the soft details of her face—and especially her eyes—made her look far older than her height suggested. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Crystal replied, smiling more genuinely.

Yellow's Pokémon, a mouse-like creature with brown stripes across its back; pointy, black-tipped ears; and a lightning-bolt shaped tail, let out a small squeak of protest at being forgotten about. Yellow laughed a little and put her hat on its head before allowing the Pokémon to climb up her arm and onto her shoulder. "This is ChuChu," she said happily. "She says 'hello'."

"Hello, ChuChu," Crystal replied, before turning enthusiastically to her trainer. "Is she a Pikachu? I've never seen one; they aren't very common in Johto."

Yellow nodded, her smile fading a little but not entirely fading. "Yeah," she said, rather wistfully. "I caught her in Kanto, the region I come from. You know… before I was taken here by Team Legend." She gave Crystal a searching look through slightly narrowed eyes, as if wondering why she had never seen her before. "The past is in the past, as people sometimes say, but I do miss it sometimes."

"Yeah," Crystal agreed passively, trying to sound sympathetic and understanding, but found it hard to stay calm with Blue's words of warning in her mind. _Please don't realize you don't know me, _she thought desperately, her heart hammering in her throat. It seemed like a lifetime before Yellow finally turned to Blue instead, a curious look on her face. "Is there any particular reason why you came to see me?"

Blue briefly explained the situation; saying only that she and Crystal were trying to escape. She didn't tell Yellow that Crystal had woke up there with no powers, or how they had met, instead saying that she had only befriended Crystal recently when they found out about each other's motivation to escape. "So," she said hesitantly, once she was finished. "Will you help us befriend a Pokémon?"

"Of course," Yellow replied softly. She took her hat back from her Pikachu and put it firmly on her head, as if preparing for a difficult task she was about to do.

"How are you going to befriend the Pokémon we find in the cave?" Crystal asked curiously. "Does it have anything to do with your power, or are you just really good with Pokémon?" She wanted to find out not only why Blue had deemed Yellow to be best for the task, but also what the girl's power was.

Yellow thought about it for a while. "That's not my power," she said eventually. "I'm a Healer; if I touch a wound, it'll close up like it had never been there at all. I can also cure sickness, as long as I know what it is. The best way to describe it is that I emit an aura that cures the disease. If I don't know what the illness or injury is, I can't choose which aura to use." She paused for a moment. "Do either of you have an injury? I could show you how my power works, if you want."

Blue located a bruise on her knee, which she attributed to being literally thrown out of the lobby of Team Legend's tower by one of the grunts. Yellow studied it for a while, before reaching out with a gentle hand and touching the bruise. Crystal could see a faint green glow around Yellow as she used her power. When it faded, Blue inspected her knee and found that no trace of her injury remained. "Thanks Yellow," she chirped cheerfully, patting the other girl on the head.

"Good thing it was only a small bruise," Yellow said, stepping back to let Blue admire her handiwork. "My powers drain me a lot sometimes. I remember I had to sleep for a whole day after healing Sapphire after one of her attempts to escape. As much as I love all of you, everyone here is much too reckless."

"I'm not," offered Crystal, and Yellow smiled.

"Good," she said happily. "You can help me keep everyone else in line." A faint pink glow appeared around Yellow. Crystal, who was standing near her, felt relaxation wash over her. Was this a healing aura that cured her stress?

"What kind of aura do you have now?" Crystal asked the smaller girl. "It looks different than the other one ." In the pink aura that was currently surrounding them, Crystal could see bits and pieces of her happiest memories.

Yellow looked shocked. "You can _see_ it?"

"Yeah," Crystal explained, feeling nervous as both Blue and Yellow looked at her in surprise. "The healing aura you used on Blue was green. This one is pink. You mean you guys don't see it at all?"

They shook their heads.

"That's odd," Crystal said, feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment, and wished she could vanish like Blue. "I wonder why I can, if not even you can, Yellow; and why this one looks different from the other aura."

"It's a peaceful aura," Yellow explained, rescuing Crystal by calling attention to herself instead. "I have emotion auras too. I almost always have an aura around me; it effects me too, and without one I can start to feel depressed. There's so much despair in this place that there needs to be at least one person who isn't upset or angry. It's kind of like a balance. Without happiness, we have no reason to live, but without sadness, we can never see happiness for what it truly is."

Crystal blinked in surprise; she'd never thought about it that way before. She repeated Yellow's words in her mind, wanting to remember them. She'd need them when she returned to the outside world. _I'm happier here, _she realized with a pang of surprise. _I have friends who care about me for who I am, not how many answers I can give them on a test. I don't know them very well, but I know they care. _She shook away the thoughts. No matter how much she wanted to stay with her new friends, they were most likely all in danger from whatever Team Legend was planning. They all had to get out of here as soon as possible.

"You hesitated when I asked you if your power would help us befriend a Pokémon from the cave," Crystal pointed out to Yellow, wanting an explanation. "If it's not part of your power, than how will you do it?"

"I can talk to Pokémon," the other girl responded. "Not in their own language, but in their thoughts. It's not part of the power Team Legend gave me—I've always been able to do it—but it is something special that only I can do."

_Can you hear my thoughts too? _Crystal wondered uneasily.

If Yellow could hear her, she showed no sign of it.

"Do you want to go to the cave right now?" she asked, turning to Blue. "If you want to escape without Team Legend noticing that you're up to something, we should probably put your plan into action as soon as possible."

"If _we_ want to escape without them noticing?" Blue repeated in disbelief. "Don't you want to come with us?"

Yellow smiled somewhat sadly, and shook her head. "There is no life for me out there anymore. Besides, if I can help you two escape, I can help the others too. If I left with you, they'd have no one. They can't talk to Pokémon, and the only thing I know for certain about escaping is that you need a Pokémon to do so."

Crystal and Blue stared at Yellow in awe.

"You would give up your own freedom to gain the freedom of others?" Crystal asked incredulously. "Why?"

"Why not?" Yellow replied with an angelic smile. "I have nothing to lose in helping others."

_But you have nothing to gain either, _Crystal thought, amazed by Yellow's selflessness. _And yet you put others before yourself. We don't deserve a friend like you._

_Friends are people you should learn from, _Crystal heard a voice say. The voice sounded a lot like Yellow's, but it echoed as if coming from far away, and sounded like the voice of a child. _ No one is perfect, so no one really _deserves_ anything. Good people are the ones that try to be perfect, even when they know they never can be._

"C'mon," said Blue hesitantly, as if she didn't want to break the spell that Yellow's words had cast. "We have a Pokémon to catch."


	6. Chapter 6: Red the Fighter

AN: Thanks to **TheFinalElements** for reviewing and **StarShine65 **for putting this story on your favorites! Your support is really appreciated!

I realize that I've been really impatient when I ask you all to review, but it would really mean a lot to me if you did. I began writing FanFiction so I could improve my writing, and its kind of hard if only a few people give me their opinion. I am grateful for the reviews I already have, but there are still so many people who are reading and not saying anything. Not only will your reviews help me become a better writer, but they also let me know who's reading my story so I can read theirs too. I know everyone likes reviews, so I'll review your stories too. But I can't do that if nobody new reviews mine! So please review. :) It can be really short; I don't care, as long as I know people care about my story.

I'm not going to bother you all with a question in the author's note today, so you can just read on and enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter Six: Red the Fighter

Crystal, Blue, and Yellow set off for the cave, taking extra care to be stealthy, as they were on an important mission. Their chances of escaping relied on them being able to befriend a cave Pokémon that would help them get away. It would probably be a Zubat (all caves have Zubat in them), which they would train to be able to both make a hole in one of the stone pillars and also to fly off the island. It sounded like it would be a fairly simple plan, which made Blue suspicious, but Crystal preferred to think of it as good luck. A nagging voice in the back of her mind reminded her that none of them had good luck—they had been kidnapped—but she told it fiercely that she had good luck—she had found friends here—and that would be enough for all of them.

They sent ChuChu to scout ahead and spark her cheeks if she saw any Team Legend grunts. The Pikachu bounded a few yards out of their hiding place, which was the doorway of the main building, and looked around. She twitched her ears twice, telling them that the coast was clear. Blue led the way as they snuck over to the cave's entrance, pausing briefly behind a boulder to check if ChuChu saw anyone. The Pikachu shook her head dutifully before returning to her lookout.

"Why are we sneaking, anyway?" Crystal whispered. "Team Legend hasn't shown their faces once since I—" She came to an abrupt halt as Blue shot her a warning look. She had forgotten that Yellow didn't know the whole story of her appearance in Team Legend's base. "Since…um, in as long as I can remember," she amended. Blue sighed and covered her face with one hand in exasperation, but Yellow didn't seem to notice. If she suspected anything was unusual, she didn't show it.

"We have to sneak because they have cameras that watch where we go," she explained kindly. "They can't hear what we're saying, but they get awfully suspicious if they see a lot of us in one location. Blue knows where the cameras are, so if we're careful, we can avoid them, but they definitely saw us talking in the main building. That's okay—good actually, because if the cameras never see us, they'll figure out that we know where they are—but we have to be careful now."

"Okay," said Crystal, satisfied with Yellow's explanation.

"C'mon guys," Blue said urgently. "Let's go. If we're gone off the cameras for too long, Team Legend will suspect that something unusual is going on."

"Hold on," said Yellow, in a sharp tone that surprised them. Crystal and Blue looked at her in alarm, but she relaxed once she had gotten their attention. "I've got an idea. Blue," she instructed. "Use your powers. Crystal, stay with me. I'm going to use a fear aura to shroud us."

She pulled Crystal closer to her and began to glow with a faint red aura. Terror washed over Crystal, and her heartbeat quickened with fear. "What are you doing?" she hissed at the smaller girl.

"I'm using a fear aura," Yellow explained, looking determined. "It shrouds me from being seen, most likely because I want to hide when I'm afraid. I can't keep this aura for long, though; it drains my strength very quickly." As she spoke, dark circles began to appear faintly around her eyes. "If we don't hurry, I won't have enough strength left to speak with the Pokémon you want to befriend. Get moving."

Blue nodded and vanished entirely. Yellow began to run a moment later, pulling Crystal along with her. Crystal made sure to stay in the red aura, but it was only meant for one person, so it was hard. She couldn't tell if she and Yellow were hidden very well, as they didn't look any different from the inside, except that they were bathed in the aura's red light. When they reached the cave, it appeared they had made it, but they couldn't see Blue anywhere.

"Blue?" Yellow called softly, letting her fear aura fade and taking a hesitant step forward. Crystal shuddered, rubbing the goose bumps away from her arms and trying to calm her heartbeat. _You're pretty fearsome when you want to be, Yellow._

_Sorry, _Yellow's voice spoke in her mind.

Crystal was going to reply, but was cut off when someone yelped indignantly. Yellow jumped back in alarm as Blue materialized in front of her. "That was my foot," Blue said, with a glare at the smaller girl.

"Sorry," Yellow replied sheepishly.

"Who's there?" called an angry voice from inside the cave. All three girls jumped, and turned to face the opening as two men emerged from the darkness. They wore black outfits with ragged hoods that made them look intimidating, like gangsters. They also wore matching scarves, which were exactly the same except for their color—one was red and one was yellow. Crystal knew they must be members of Team Legend, but had no idea what ranking they were. They could be grunts, or could be much worse.

"ChuChu," yelped Yellow, and the Pikachu immediately ran to her side, cheeks sparking. Crystal wanted to help, but had no Pokémon to battle with. She wished her Umbreon friend was with them, but she hadn't seen it since that morning.

"It's just some of those kids," said the man with the red scarf, scowling at Yellow, but she refused to back down, despite her scared expression. "If they don't want to pick a fight, they can always just scram." He took another step forward, trying to intimidate them, but Yellow, Crystal, and Blue only glared back.

His friend with the yellow scarf sneered at them. "We'll have to beat them in a battle." He threw a PokéBall to the ground, and a Houndour emerged in a flash of light. The man with the red scarf did the same, sending out a Purrloin. Blue looked for a way to escape into the cave, but the two men were blocking it, and didn't seem inclined to move. She let out a huff of frustration.

"Purrloin, use scratch!" The man with the red scarf commanded, and his Pokémon lunged at ChuChu with its claws extended. The Pikachu dodged it nimbly, landing a few feet away, but the Purrloin chased after her. Its unrelenting attacks didn't give Yellow the chance to have her Pokémon fight back.

"Blue, we've got to do something!" Crystal hissed, but her friend was nowhere to be seen. Crystal looked back to the battle, where the Houndour had joined the Purrloin in bullying ChuChu. The two members of Team Legend laughed as their Pokémon beat up the Pikachu. "ChuChu!" Yellow shrieked, trying to save her, but the Houndour only snarled at her whenever she tried to get close, while the Purrloin continued to pick on ChuChu with its sharp claws. The Pokémon's trainers didn't even give them commands. Crystal felt sick. This wasn't a real Pokémon battle; it was bullying.

"Leave her ALONE!" Blue yelled, reappearing as she tacked the two Pokémon away from ChuChu. The Houndour growled at her, while the Purrloin arched its back and hissed, but she didn't move out of their way.

The men from Team Legend stopped laughing. "Use bite, Houndour," the man with the yellow scarf snapped, "and teach her a lesson about interrupting our fun!" The Houndour seemed all too willing to obey after Blue had pushed it. Blue gritted her teeth in pain as she fended off its attacks. Yellow lingered at the edge of the battle, seeming uncertain, but took her chance to run over to ChuChu's side.

"Don't worry, ChuChu," she said, picking up the little Pokémon. "I'll heal you!" She began to glow with her green aura, and the Pikachu's injuries started to fade. Blue continued to defend them against their opponents' Pokémon, which were prowling around uneasily. They didn't seem to know what to do when they were told to attack a human, but soon began to snap at Blue's heels despite their uncertainty. Crystal knew she couldn't just stand there, and steeled herself to join the fight. But before she could, another Pokémon ran past her with an angry cry. It was a Pikachu, its cheeks sparking furiously. But ChuChu was in Yellow's arms, being healed, so who was this Pikachu?

"Pika, use thunderbolt!" The person who had given the command ran to Crystal's side. He was a boy who looked around Blue's age, and had spiky black hair, blazing red eyes, and a determined expression. He smirked in satisfaction as his Pikachu leapt in front of Blue and zapped the opponents' Pokémon. "Two against one isn't fair," he scolded the members of Team Legend, who glared at him.

"Red!" cried Yellow in relief. After using her powers so frequently, she looked absolutely exhausted, but still seemed overjoyed to see the newcomer and his Pikachu. Crystal realized he must be a friend of hers.

"Hey Yellow," he called back with a friendly grin. "Can I borrow your ChuChu for a moment?" Blue and Yellow retreated from the battlefield while their opponents were distracted, and Yellow handed her Pikachu to Red. He held the Pokémon for a moment, closing his eyes as his hands began to glow faintly, before passing her back to her trainer and running to join his own Pikachu on the battlefield. Their opponents were lingering uncertainly, hesitating to attack such a strong Pokémon.

"Houndour, Purrloin, attack!" One of the trainers commanded, and the Pokémon leapt forward to strike Red's Pikachu. Crystal was worried that not even Red's Pikachu was strong enough to fight two Pokémon at once, but it dodged the Pokémon's attacks like it had done it a million times. "Thunderbolt!" Red commanded, and to Crystal's surprise, a bolt of electricity burst out of Red's hands and shocked the Houndour, while Pika used the same attack on the Purrloin.

Blue smirked at Crystal's shocked expression. "That's our friend, Red," she told the younger girl. "He's a Fighter; that means his power is that he can borrow Pokémon abilities. Right now he's using ChuChu's attacks to fight alongside his own Pikachu. Pretty cool, huh?"

"C'mon guys," Red said, sending another bolt of lightning at Team Legend's Pokémon before letting Pika leap onto his shoulder. All four teenagers fled, the Team Legend members chasing them a few yards before returning to their post in the mouth of the cave. Crystal, Blue, Yellow, and Red came to a stop by the main building, out of breath but relatively unscathed from the attacks their enemies had sent after them. Yellow healed Blue's injuries, and soon everyone was back to normal.

Blue cursed. "I never knew they had people guarding that damp old cave," she said with a scowl. "I've never had any desire to go into that place, but now we _have_ to get in! Those arrogant grunts! Did you see the looks on their faces when they chased us off?" She stamped her foot in frustration, before turning to Red with a slightly calmer expression. "Thanks for saving us, by the way."

Yellow and Crystal thanked him as well.

"You're welcome," said Red, grinning at them. "I like battling anyway."

He turned to Crystal. "My name's Red, in case our friends didn't tell you." He paused, his expression curious as he studied her. "I don't think I've seen you before, though. What's your name?"

"Crystal," she said nervously. "I'm kind of shy, so that's probably why you haven't seen me around. I'm also quite new here, so that could be part of it too."

"Oh," Red replied, in a way that made Crystal wonder if he didn't believe her. "In any case, it's nice to meet you." He smiled and held out his hand for her to shake.

"You too," Crystal said, smiling back at him, before turning to face the others. "I meant to ask you, does the color of the Team Legend members' scarves mean anything? One of them had a yellow scarf, but the other had a red one."

"You're observant," Yellow complimented her. "And yes, it does mean something. They're both grunts, but the darker the color of the scarf, the higher rank they are, and most likely the more dangerous. White is the lowest rank, then yellow, then red, then green, then brown, and then black is the highest."

"What were you guys hoping to accomplish in the cave anyway?" Red asked them. Blue and Crystal exchanged glances, wondering how much to tell him, but Yellow solved the problem for them by telling him everything. Red listened intently, and a determined look came into his eyes when Yellow was finished. "I'll help you guys as much as I can," he vowed, and Pika's cheeks sparked in agreement.

"Great!" Blue chirped in excitement. "You can help us try to sneak into the cave again!" Crystal sighed in exasperation, shaking her head, but decided to come along with Blue to make sure she wasn't being reckless. Red agreed enthusiastically, seeming nearly as determined Blue herself. They were so caught up in creating their new plan of action that they didn't notice Yellow slip away into the main building.


	7. Chapter 7: Mysterious Voices

AN: Thanks to **Professor Pineapple **for putting this story on your favorites, and to **StarShine65**, **Geekachu**, and **TheFinalElements** for reviewing. Your reviews have been the most helpful throughout the story so far, because now I have a better idea of how to improve the story as it goes along. I'm not going to fix the mistakes you pointed out right away, but I'll fix a few things about Chapter One once I finish the story, and whenever I get a better idea of how to do it, I'm going to completely re-write Chapter Six, because I realized that there's a lot of things wrong with it, and frankly, I don't like it. I thought I should have wrote a little more of Red, who said like two things in that chapter even though its named after him. It should be a little more focused around him, I think.

Anyways, enough of me crap-talking my own writing, and more of me actually appreciating my reviewers. If you aren't involved in it, you might want to skip the rest of the author's note, because it's quite long.

**StarShine65: **Your review made me so happy! I'm glad to see that people are interested in finding out what happens next, because most of the reviews I got before were about how the story was written, not their opinion about what was happening. (I'm also happy to hear that you really like my story; but what writer isn't? :D)

**Geekachu: **Thanks for giving my story a chance, and thanks for the welcome. :) The critique is really helpful because I didn't even NOTICE half the stuff you pointed out. I'll fix Chapter One once I'm finished with the story, or at least after I get some motivation (I'm kind of on a roll with the actual story, but I will go back and fix my mistakes... eventually). About me "telling" rather than "showing", that's a problem in quite a few of the chapters. It's more of my writing style than a mistake, though, but I could see why it would bore a few people (although hopefully not to tears). I'll try to do less of that in the next chapters, but that might be really, really hard, because that's the way I write. Hopefully it won't be so bad once I get farther into the story and don't have a lot of backstory made up that I want to tell the readers. Also, about Crystal being upset about not having many friends; I wrote it like that because that's how I feel most of the time, and I just wanted to vent a little in my writing. I'm not _that_ miserable about it, and neither is she, but I wanted to show that getting good grades isn't enough to make someone's life automatically perfect. Plus, it could be that I feel that way because I'm a really social person (I have two sisters, and going to school was the first time I wasn't with them all the time). I didn't actually think it out too deeply either, and I don't think I really said it, but Crystal doesn't have ANY friends at all. Its more that she's tired of being alone than constantly miserable. I'll clarify everything when I re-write/fix Chapter One. (And wow, that was a long reply; sorry for wasting your time.) Oh, and Gold shows up in Chapter Nine, don't worry.

**TheFinalElements: **First of all, I'd like to thank you for reviewing every chapter, because you're the only one that has. Second, thanks for the advice/critique/whatever you call it. I'm sorry about me ruining the whole "Yellow has a crush on Red" thing; I didn't look at it like that. If it makes you feel better, I'll take that out when I re-write Chapter Six. You're not the only one who pointed out that I should do more "showing" and less "telling" in my story, and once again, I didn't really notice that it was much of a problem. It's more of my writing style than something I just happened to do a lot of, but I'll tone it down as best as I can. I hope you enjoy this chapter, but I was...um, a little mean to Yellow (don't kill me!). Sorry.

Sorry for the ultra-long authors note. :) Thanks for reading, and please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter Seven: Mysterious Voices

Yellow left when Blue decided they should go back to the cave. She knew better than to think that this was about catching a Pokémon anymore; it was more about Blue's stubborn pride, which made her defy Team Legend no matter how much it cost her. Red was no better, and although Crystal seemed responsible enough, she was going along with them. Yellow hoped that Red and Blue wouldn't influence her too much. As she's said, everyone else was _much_ too reckless.

Speaking— or thinking—of Crystal, Yellow knew that there was something odd about the other girl. Her thoughts sounded different; Blue and Red's were quieter and sounded muffled, almost as if they were no longer human. Pokémon's thoughts didn't sound the same as human thoughts, and Red and Blue's thoughts didn't sound the same as human thoughts. But there was no doubt about it; Crystal's thoughts sounded like a normal human's. And Yellow had heard her think, in those refreshingly human thoughts, _Please don't realize you don't know me._

Yellow didn't usually eavesdrop on anyone's thoughts, but when they were complete sentences instead of fragmented words and images they seemed to just project themselves into her mind. She couldn't help but hear thoughts that were directed towards her, even if they weren't meant to be listened to. And Crystal's thought had been strange. _Please don't realize you don't know me. _What had that been about? Yellow knew that she had never seen Crystal before, but where had she come from? She seemed to know that no one knew of her existence, but didn't want them to notice that she had appeared from seemingly nowhere.

And then there was the fact that Crystal had heard Yellow's thoughts too. No one had ever been able to communicate with her just in her mind. It was almost like a conversation, but without either of them speaking a single word aloud. Yellow was fascinated by it, but she had no clue why Crystal was so different from everyone else. Not just here, but different from anyone she had ever met.

Yellow yawned. Using so many auras was exhausting, and she suspected that Team Legend had designed her power that way on purpose. All the powers that were dangerous to them were limited; hers, Red's, and the power they gave the boy called Silver. Sapphire's wasn't, but that had been a mistake on their part—she was the only one that used hers to try to escape. Yellow and Red were peaceful unless Team Legend bullied them, and Silver… well, Silver did whatever he did alone in his room. He almost never came out, and never clashed with Team Legend. Yellow wondered every so often if he had been planning his escape all this time. For now all he did was try to be forgotten about. But Yellow had seen him practice using his powers when he thought he was alone, and knew that he was more cunning than he appeared. Yellow knew that most of the others would see him as a threat and probably an enemy, but Silver had done nothing wrong to any of them. Besides, Yellow had no enemies, and intended to keep it that way.

Yellow returned to the stair room that Blue and Crystal had found her in, telling ChuChu to stand guard for her in case someone was coming. The Pikachu resumed her position on the stairs as she had many times before; keeping a lookout for any grunts (or prisoners) that Yellow didn't want to find her.

Yellow opened a trapdoor behind the staircase, marveling for what felt like the hundredth time that Blue had not yet discovered the hidden room it led to. The older girl prided herself on knowing everything there was to know about Team Legend's island, but she was wrong. There was at least one place that Blue had never known about, and that was Yellow's secret thinking place.

She didn't like deceiving her friends, but she needed to be alone sometimes. She had been going to her secret place when they had found her, but thankfully, they hadn't asked her what she was doing. She did want to help them, so she had went with them, but now that Blue had crossed the line between trying to escape and winning back her own pride, Yellow could go back to what she had been doing before. And that was going to her secret thinking place so she could ponder the mysteries of the past few days in peace. There were more mysteries now that she had met Crystal, and she wanted to get to the bottom of them. Yellow disappeared through the trapdoor and closed her eyes, allowing the silence of the room to reassure her. Hearing everyone's thoughts made the world more chaotic than many people would realize.

But today there was no silence. Instead, Yellow's mind was filled with the fury of something she couldn't see. She screamed, covering her ears with her hands, but she couldn't hear her own voice through the cacophony of angry thoughts. Yellow collapsed, sobbing and clutching her ears until the anger faded. She blinked tears out of her eyes and looked up, trying to see what had made the horrible noise, but all her gaze fell on were empty cages; cages that hadn't been there the day before. The hidden room had always been empty, but now it seemed like someone had discovered it.

Yellow got to her feet, wiping away her tears, and studied the cages. There were seven of them; a strange number that Yellow guessed was specific rather than random. The cages appeared to have nothing in them, but Yellow could hear the thoughts of the things that they contained. The anger in them had ebbed, but resentment still simmered in their minds. Their thoughts were rapidly changing images that Yellow had to fight hard to block so that she could think more clearly, but there was no mistaking the hatred…

"Why are you so angry?" Yellow called out to the creatures in the cages. Six of the cages were glowing blue with what appeared to be crackles of electricity, while the last seemed to be the only one that was truly empty. They also seemed to be in a specific pattern, with six of the cages positioned in a circle around the larger one in the middle. Electric chains connected the cages in the circle to the one in the middle; the only one without a chain was the one that was empty. Yellow knew there had to be a reason why the cages were set up this way—there was a reason for everything, you just had to figure it out. But she didn't know why the cages had to be a certain way.

_Freedom, _hissed one of the creatures. It was the one in the cage closest to Yellow, and when she peered at it closely, she could make out a faint cerulean shape. _We MUST be free... _Malevolent eyes stared out of the cage, and Yellow knew that these creatures were dangerous. But maybe she could try to befriend them.

"I'd free you," she said carefully. "But I don't know how." She made sure her words were truthful—she hated lying more than anything in the world—but she also had to be smart about her words so she didn't anger the creatures.

The cerulean creature hissed, as if the answer were unsatisfactory. It twisted in its cage, reaching out with what appeared to be a clawed hand. The moment its claws passed between the bars, electricity struck it. Yellow blinked instinctively as sparks flew from the cage, and when her eyes opened, she could no longer see the creature. She had a feeling that she could only see it at all because of the cage. Perhaps it had magical properties for some reason. Were the creatures inside magical as well?

Suddenly, the large cage in the middle shook violently. Electricity raced along the chains binding the cages together, swamping the large cage and subduing the creature inside of it. Yellow realized that if the other creatures had wanted to, they could have broken through their cages while the electricity was focused on the center one. Noticing that the creatures were eyeing her evilly, she quickly changed her train of thought. She didn't know if they could hear her thoughts like Crystal seemed to be able to, but their thoughts were eerily similar to those of the mysterious girl. Not because of what they were thinking, but because of the way their voices sounded in her mind.

_We do not know the way to escape, _the cerulean creature spat. _Much like you, we are trapped, although in a far smaller prison. _Yellow caught a glimpse of it twisting in its cage, but it was still impossible to focus her eyes on. She wished she could see the creatures more clearly so she could figure out what they were. The cerulean creature hissed again, as if angry that she hadn't acknowledged its words.

"I'm not in a prison," Yellow said in a slightly fearful voice, trying to calm it down before she was assaulted by its angry thoughts. "I don't mind being here; not at all! It's my friends who want to escape, not me!"

_We should have known we would find no sympathy in a human! _The creature lunged at the bars of its cage, making Yellow leap back as the cage shook alarmingly. It seemed infuriated, and Yellow realized in dismay that she had said the wrong thing. A wave of the creature's anger pulverized her ability to think clearly, and she pressed her hands to the sides of her head as she tried to focus.

"Please, stop!" she cried. "Your anger hurts me!"

The creature's anger intensified, but Yellow could also detect a kind of wicked pleasure in its thoughts as it watched her wince in pain. Hissing laughter came from all the cages, and Yellow felt a pang of fear as she realized they enjoyed watching her suffer. These creatures, whatever they were, were dark-hearted and cruel, and she was fooling no one by pretending she could befriend them.

Yellow didn't want to use her power again—she was drained far too much from it already—but it was the only thing she could do to escape. She released a peaceful aura, and the anger ebbed from the creatures' hearts. They relaxed, and Yellow saw flickers of cerulean, pale blue, earthy green, fiery orange, bright white, and deep red as the creatures sank to the bottom of their cages. Once they were completely subdued, Yellow fled, fully intending to never return to the secret room again.


	8. Chapter 8: The Believing Place

AN: There's been a change of plans. I'm not going to actually rewrite Chapter Six, because I re-read it and its not as bad as I thought it was, and honestly, I'm too lazy to do that. However, I will still make one or two changes, although those will be minor re-wordings, not actual storyline-altering changes. As I promised **TheFinalElements**, I'm going to take out the part where Blue tells Crystal that Yellow likes Red, mostly because that means I can write a chapter or two involving her crush on him later on in the story. So none of you will have to re-read Chapter Six; the changes only really matter for new readers.

Anyways, thanks to **KrystalizedRubies** for putting the story on your favorites and to **TheFinalElements **and **StarShine65** for reviewing. I actually had a brief case of writer's block, but you guys cured it. :)

**StarShine65:** Either you are a very good guesser or you read the summary. :) Still, I'm glad you figured out that the mysterious creatures are the spirits, even though I didn't directly say it; that must mean my stories aren't all that confusing.

**TheFinalElements: **I hope you weren't that confused. And thank you for saying that it's interesting; that's the main goal right now. Don't worry, the real action isn't going to start anytime soon. Everyone will appear before the climax, and I'm not running out of ideas that quickly. I don't know everything yet, but my guess is that there will be at least twenty or so chapters before the climax starts.

And I know that people want to see more things actually happen and less of explaining everything; I promise that there'll be more of that later on, but the story would be drawn out far too long if Crystal had to figure out everyone's powers instead of someone explaining them to her. That's why I listed all of Yellow's powers in Chapter Five- and also because if I left Crystal to figure it out little by little, I KNOW I'd forget some of it, scatterbrained as I am. Sorry if that gets boring, but I have to do it like that. But I _tried _really hard in this chapter to let them figure out things on their own. The result is that now we have a few more mysteries that will be solved later on rather than be explained right now, and the chapter ended up being really, really long (for this story at least). I know the beginning isn't amazing, but it gets better as you go.

Read on, review (please), and most importantly, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters.

Chapter Eight: The Believing Place

"This is so unfair," complained Blue, as she, Red, and Crystal were kicked out of the cave entrance for the umpteenth time. "Why do they care if we want to go in the cave? It seems like everything we want to do is something we aren't allowed to do."

Crystal brushed the dust off her clothes with a grimace. "That's because everything we want to do _is_ something we aren't allowed to do," she pointed out. "They know to expect it by now. Besides, they don't want us in that cave because there are Pokémon there, and they don't want us to use them to escape. At least, that's what I think. That is what we came here to do, in any case. You shouldn't be so surprised that they already thought of that. Team Legend thinks of_ everything_. They were probably planning all this for a long time before they kidnapped y—us."

The three of them were walking back to the main building for the night, deciding that the grunts would definitely go through with their threat of throwing them in the dungeons if they bothered them one more time. The teenagers' various attempts to enter the cave had all ended in failure, and they had run out of ideas anyway, so there was no point in testing the grunts' patience any longer.

"In any case," Red said confidently, "they don't want us to go there, so there must be _something_ worth finding in that cave. If there was nothing special there, they wouldn't be so determined to keep us from getting in."

"I agree," said Blue in an aggravated tone. "That's what makes it so frustrating that we can't get past them." She fell silent for a moment, and Crystal wondered if she was upset, but it wasn't long before a satisfied smirk appeared on her face. "At least we accomplished one thing today."

Crystal and Red gave her curious looks.

"We pissed them off," she clarified proudly. "There is _nothing_ that gives me more satisfaction than annoying someone who thinks they can control me."

Crystal rolled her eyes, but smiled despite herself. Red looked like he was trying not to laugh, but was hopelessly unsuccessful. Crystal and Blue soon began to laugh as well. Blue looped an arm around Crystal and Red's shoulders, and the trio walked the rest of the way back to the main building in peaceful silence.

They parted ways at the entrance to the main building. "We should rendezvous here tomorrow," Blue suggested. "We can decide what to do when we get here. We're a team now, right?" Red and Crystal nodded in agreement. "Alright then," Blue went on, looking more confident. "We stick together from now on, agreed?"

Red and Crystal nodded again, more determinedly this time.

The girls said goodnight to Red, and Blue beckoned Crystal behind their friend's back. Crystal followed the other girl, and poor Red, who didn't know that Blue and Crystal's rooms weren't in the same hall, didn't suspect anything.

"What is it?" Crystal hissed, once Red was safely out of earshot.

"You know all that stuff I just said about us being a team?" Blue said, with an uncharacteristic scowl. She turned to face Crystal, placing her hands firmly on the younger girl's shoulders to make her stop walking.

Crystal nodded impatiently. "What about it?"

"I was lying. We need Red's help—the more people we have on our side, the better—but we aren't necessarily bringing him with us when we escape. If he's around when our plan is ready to put into action, great—he can come. But if he's not, we're leaving him behind. Got it?" Blue's expression was impossible to decipher. Crystal felt a pang of unease as she realized that she understood so little about her friend, including the way she thought. She wondered if Blue was being harsh because she was upset that Yellow had decided that she wouldn't come with them.

"But why?" she asked, almost desperately.

Blue's scowl deepened. "We have enough things in our way with the whole Team Legend against us, without having to worry about extra people. My main goal is to help you escape, before Team Legend finds out about you. It's a miracle you weren't discovered already, with all the… misbehaving… we've been doing. If I have to, I'll even stay behind if it means you'll get away. But we only have one chance—if Team Legend stops us, they won't let us even get an opportunity to try again."

It was only then that Crystal realized just how serious the situation was. Blue was willing to give up everything to help Crystal escape, even if it meant dooming herself to eternity on Team Legend's island.

"Okay," Crystal said reluctantly, hating herself for agreeing to betray Red, even if they hadn't yet. "We'll leave him behind—but only if we absolutely, 100%, _have_ to." She took a deep breath and steeled herself, before boldly adding, "Got it?"

Blue raised one eyebrow skeptically. Then she smirked, as if Crystal's moment of bravery, however small, was amusing to her. "Fine," she consented, turning away to continue down the hall. "See you tomorrow, Crystal."

"See you," Crystal echoed sadly as she watched her go, wondering if she made the right choice. How could she have, when it felt so wrong?

The next morning, Team Legend's island was as gloomy as ever. Crystal knew that sun never shone on the island, but that still didn't stop her from missing it. The island wasn't in what you'd call constant darkness, but there were always cloudy skies overhead. Blue, Red, and Yellow all had skin that was slightly paler than normal, thanks to the lack of sunlight, and Crystal was sure her skin would fade as well if she didn't get off Team Legend's island soon. _Oh well, _she thought ruefully. _If my skin becomes paler, at least I'll blend in more with the other prisoners._

Crystal got ready for a day of more escape plans, and set off down the hall. Once again, she was up before the lights in the hall were turned on, but this time she wasn't in the mood to just wait around. Blue had instructed that they meet up in front of the main building, so that's where she headed. The building was strangely peaceful when it was dark, Crystal realized as she walked down the hall, almost as if the shadows were her guardian angels. She pictured the shadow angels with dark wings, and almost could have sworn she saw a flicker of black in the darkness. She shook it off and kept walking; her imagination was getting the better of her.

Suddenly she caught sight of a Pokémon at the end of the hall, waiting for her by the door. It was the Umbreon that had brought her to Team Legend's island. Crystal ran over to it, barely hearing the echoes of her footsteps as she sprinted down the hall to where the Pokémon was standing.

"So you haven't forgotten me!" she exclaimed in delight; she hadn't expected to see it again after its mysterious disappearance the day before. "I thought you left me to make the path of my destiny alone?" Her words were phrased as a question rather than a statement, but if she were expecting an answer she would have been disappointed.

The Pokémon merely blinked at her. It lit up all of its markings—not in its usual pattern, but brightly before dimming them until the light faded away entirely. Crystal guessed that it was not showing her that it was the same Pokémon, or even reminding her of their previous meetings, as it had before; but was now attempting to tell her something. Whether it was giving her its own message, or simply passing one along, she didn't know—it would likely become clear once she figured it out. But for now, she had no idea what the Pokémon was trying to say.

"I don't understand," she said apologetically.

The Umbreon looked thoughtful before nodding in acknowledgement. It paused for a moment, and then repeated its new pattern of light. It paused again before closing its eyes and letting its ears droop as if it were falling asleep. The Pokémon studied Crystal, seeming pleased when she appeared to be getting it, and finished its message with its signature pattern of light. It then looked up at her expectantly.

"Something about sleeping?" Crystal guessed.

The Umbreon nodded, flashing its markings in its familiar pattern as if that was the key part of the message that she didn't understand. Crystal thought for a moment, a pensive frown appearing on her face. "What are you trying to say?"

The Umbreon repeated its message, seeming frustrated.

"I understand the part about sleeping…" Crystal told it, "but why are you showing me your signature pattern? Are you trying to remind me of something?"

The Pokémon nodded and flashed the familiar pattern again.

"You first showed it to me when I saw you on the corner," Crystal recalled, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "And then again in the dream, when you wanted me to recognize you…" The Umbreon became very excited at her words, and Crystal trailed off, realizing she must be close.

"I already recognize you," she mused. "So that must mean—oh!—you're saying something about a dream!" She beamed triumphantly, and the Umbreon nodded, its markings flashing brightly before dimming and finally fading. Crystal, after a brief guessing game, determined that the Pokémon was saying "tonight"—its markings were imitating the path of the sun as the day passed by. She added up the message, and realized that the Umbreon was telling her that she would have another dream that night, in which it would most likely tell her something important about escaping, since that seemed to be her current goal. After all, the Umbreon appeared to be trying to guide her in whatever destiny she chose for herself.

"I understand," she told the Pokémon. "You're going to send me another special dream tonight. That's what you're trying to say, isn't it?" The Umbreon nodded, letting out a growl of satisfaction about getting its message across, and flashed its markings in its signature pattern once more.

"Who are you talking to?" a voice asked suddenly, and Crystal jumped as Blue materialized a few feet away from her. She told her friend about her encounter with the Umbreon from her dream, but Blue frowned as if her explanation didn't make sense. "Where did it go? Weren't you talking to it just a second ago?"

Crystal glanced back at the Umbreon—or at least the place where it had been standing before—but it seemed to have vanished as easily as Blue had appeared. "That's odd," she said thoughtfully. "It's gone—just like that! I wonder where it went, and how it left so quickly. In any case, it seems to have run off somewhere, and we probably won't find it even if we looked for it. C'mon, let's go find Red before he wonders if we bailed on him." The two of them continued on their way without giving the mysterious Umbreon another thought.

When Blue and Crystal left the main building, they found Red and Yellow waiting for them outside. It was only then that Crystal realized that Yellow hadn't been with them when they tried to break into the cave the day before. She wondered briefly where the smaller girl had gone, but quickly came to the conclusion that Yellow had most likely been tired after using her powers so many times and simply went to sleep early.

Meanwhile, while Crystal was pondering Yellow's mysterious disappearance, Red and Blue had been filling her in about their lack of success the night before. "By the way," Blue said suddenly, a sly smile appearing on her face, "it seems our endeavors have paid off after all, even though we didn't get in. Thanks to our admirable effort, Team Legend has replaced the grunts we harassed yesterday with higher ranking green-level grunts. That means they see us as a threat, and therefore, we have more hope that the four of us can actually accomplish something in the long run."

_And yet you'll still betray them, _Crystal thought bitterly.

"How did you figure that out?" Yellow inquired curiously. "That they put higher ranked grunts in the cave entrance, I mean."

"Well, my apprentice, I snuck outside for an early-morning expedition," Blue informed her proudly. "Thanks to my powers, I can go anywhere unnoticed." She vanished into thin air, as if doing a demonstration, but her eyes remained visible in the shadows of early morning, which was a highly unnerving sight.

"Stop it, Blue," Crystal said, shivering slightly. "That's creepy."

Blue laughed and reappeared, taking an exaggerated bow. "Thanks to my ability to vanish," she explained proudly, "I can sneak up on people, pull lots of pranks—although I usually wouldn't want to unless someone's pissed me off first—and even impersonate ghosts. It's actually quite a handy talent to have. If Team Legend had to give me a power, I'm glad this is the one I got." Her tone was lighthearted, as if she couldn't be bothered to get mad at Team Legend today.

Crystal was puzzled. Sometimes it seemed like Blue could be very resentful and held a strong grudge against her kidnappers, but at other times she appeared more wistful or even content to just live in the present. Crystal wondered which was closer to how her friend really felt. She was more inclined to believe the first; she knew a lot about people despite the walls she had accidentally built around herself, and had long ago realized that people tended to think more darkly than they originally appeared to. The people who seemed to be the most carefree were usually the ones that were trying to hide their sadness, or more often escape a terrible past.

"What are we doing today?" Red asked. "As much as we all want to get into the cave, I think we've tried Team Legend's patience to the breaking point when it comes to our disobedience. And I know that where we stand now, we're fighting a losing battle by trying to get in. We don't have enough trickery or strength to get past the grunts. Strength in numbers is what we need, but a lot of the other prisoners want nothing to do with us. They either don't take us seriously, because we're not the most dangerous or aggressive, or see us as a threat because we're a group, while everyone else stands alone. Either way, we won't have any luck trying to get them on our side."

"Since the cave is off-limits, and the tower is off-limits, why don't we check out the only other building we're allowed to go into?" Crystal suggested. "I've never been to the church before, but something about it seems… important. I mean, there must be a reason it's on this island, despite how evil Team Legend is, right?"

"That's a good idea," Yellow agreed. "The church might have some secrets that we have yet to uncover. I've seen the way everyone else dismisses it because they think it wouldn't be of any use to them, but we'll never know if we never go there." They all looked to Blue, who seemed to be their unofficial leader at the moment.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked slowly. "There is no church on this island. There wouldn't be anything religious in such an evil place."

"There is," Red told her, although he seemed a little uncertain. "It's not too far from here. You can't miss it; it's the only other building on the island besides the main one and the tower. C'mon, we'll show you."

He led the way as they set off for the building in question, and Crystal noticed that everyone's expressions were different. Red frowned indecisively, as if he wasn't sure what to think about Blue's denial of the church's existence; Yellow looked a little puzzled but confident that she, Red, and Crystal were right; and Blue was scowling as if all of them were pulling a dirty trick on her. Crystal was confused—how could Blue have not noticed the church? And she seemed so certain that the others were just making it up…

They reached the building, and sure enough, it was a church. It stood there in its moment of triumph, the multi-colored light of the stained glass windows shining on their faces. "See?" Red said to Blue, but her scowl just deepened.

"No!" she said adamantly. "All I see is an abandoned building!"

The other three were baffled, and gave their friend a look of slight disbelief. It only seemed to make her angrier. "Why can't_ you _see!" she snapped. "All that's here is an abandoned building. Its roof is caving in and all that's inside is a big, empty room that smells like rotting wood. I've been in there before, and it's just a worthless building that takes up space. There's nothing useful here at all!"

"She's telling the truth," Yellow said, turning to the mystified Red and Crystal. "At least, what she perceives as the truth. I can hear her thoughts, and what she's describing to us is what she sees when she looks at this building. All Blue sees here is an abandoned building… but I have no idea why."

Crystal frowned, deep in thought. There had to be a reason why the building looked so different to Blue than it did to all the others. "Wait," she said suddenly, an idea coming to her. "Do any of you guys… you know, have a religion that you believe in?" Red and Yellow nodded, but Blue hesitated before shaking her head.

"That's it!" Crystal said excitedly. "Red, Yellow, and I believe, so we see the church, but Blue sees an abandoned building because she doesn't."

The others looked thoughtful.

"That makes sense," Yellow decided. "But is that the only thing special about this building? Maybe there'll be something else inside for those of us that do see the church. We should go in and find out."

Red and Crystal agreed with Yellow, their curiosity getting the better of them, so they decided to go into the strange building. Blue could not be persuaded to stay behind either, saying that if there was something to find, it would be there in all variations of the building. So the four teenagers went in as a team, and despite the doubt in one of their hearts, the building had the same haunted feeling to all of them.

"It's like the building is alive," Yellow said softly, looking up at the multi-colored light streaming in through the stained glass ceiling. "I hear voices; just whispers that I can't make out, but there are definitely thoughts here in the building. I didn't hear them before, when we were outside, but… It's like the building is talking to me."

Red and Crystal wore matching expressions of unease, but the only one who was really terrified was Blue. Her eyes were bright with fear, and she took shaky breaths like each one might be her last. Crystal opened her mouth to ask her what was wrong, but before she could, Blue shuddered and took a step nearer to the others. "C-can we leave now?" she said, in a slightly panicked voice.

"Sure," Crystal said, somewhat bewildered by the other girl's fear. Why did she seem so much more afraid than the others? Blue was the last person Crystal would expect to show fear, especially when it was nothing more than a lingering sense of unease to the rest of them. She always seemed so… brave, especially when it came to defying Team Legend, who could punish her so harshly.

"Guys, we have to leave," Crystal said firmly. Red and Yellow gave her curious looks—but they took one look at Blue, who was trying not to shiver in fright—and seemed to understand. "Alright," said Yellow, and Red shrugged agreeably. The four left the building, and its ominous feeling faded considerably, but looking at it from outside still made a shiver run up Crystal's spine.

She turned to ask Blue what she was so afraid of, but the other girl was already backing away slowly. "I'll see you all later," she said in a calm voice, and Crystal knew she was trying not to show how much the mysterious building had gotten to her. "Try to lie low for a few days, okay?" She gave the others a weak smile. "Team Legend's just about ready to throw us in the dungeons for what we've done, so we've got to try not to piss them off for a while. Just for a few days; by then, I'll have a better plan." Without saying anything else, she turned and ran off towards the main building, leaving Red, Yellow, and Crystal wondering why she had fled.


	9. Chapter 9: Gold the Prankster?

AN: Thanks to **TheFinalElements**, **Sir Dolan Death-with-Benefits**, and **Dia Newman** for reviewing, and **Dia Newman** and **Sir Dolan** (I'm too lazy to write your whole name, even though this is a lot longer) for also adding "Pokémon Spirits" to your favorites. Your support is really appreciated! :)

**TheFinalElements:** Yes, I am a Christian. I'm not going to put any other religion in this story because (1) It's not supposed to be a religious story, and (2) I don't want to insult anyone by accidentally writing something that isn't true about their religion. But yeah, that's the answer to your question.

**Dia Newman:** Which part of the chapter are you even referring to? I don't know exactly how to respond to your review but... thanks, I guess?

**Sir Dolan Death-with-Benefits: **Your theories about Crystal having a power after all are interesting, but I'm not saying anything about that now. :) I'm glad you're wondering about a lot of things too. It'll all come together soon enough (or not; you might have to wait quite a few chapters). About Blue telling Crystal about Yellow liking Red, I took that part out soon after you reviewed, so I will be revealing it through actions after all... quite soon, actually, if I go along with the ideas I've been planning recently. I don't know if I will yet.

PLEASE READ THIS EVERYONE; IT'S IMPORTANT: The Believing Place/church is pretty much the only thing even slightly religious about this story, and it isn't even really going to be a main focus. I hope I didn't offend anyone by putting mentions of religion in this story, and if I did, I'm sorry. I know some people can be a little touchy about their beliefs. I promise there won't be anything too religious, but if the last chapter offended anyone who's reading it, please just stop reading "Pokémon Spirits" instead of writing mean reviews about it. No one has done that so far, but please don't start. I went back and put a warning about it in the first chapter for all future readers, but if you were reading before the warning was added, please don't get upset about it. If you're reading after I added the warning or don't mind mentions of religion, sorry for wasting your time with this disclaimer/warning/whatever it is.

I also went back and edited a few of the other chapters to get rid of some typos, to add the letters AN to the beginnings of the author's notes at the end of chapters (to avoid confusion), and to take out the part of Chapter Six where Blue tells Crystal about Yellow's crush on Red. I probably won't mess around with the old chapters anymore until after the story is over, unless its just fixing typos.

Wow, this AN is so long. Sorry about that. Read on and enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter Nine: Gold the… Prankster?

Crystal was desperately curious to figure out why Blue had been so afraid of the mysterious Believing Place, but decided that it would be best not to bother her so soon after she had been so obviously terrified. Crystal still had a whole day's worth of time to kill before she could meet her Umbreon friend in a dream and demand answers from it. But as curious as she was about discovering more about the Believing Place, she had no urge to go there without Blue, who—as the leader—the information would be most important to. That left her with absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day, and too much time to do nothing in.

"I'm going back to the main building," she told Red and Yellow, giving them no time to even ask her why before she ran off in the same direction Blue had gone. Crystal had no idea where she was actually going to go, but let her feet take her wherever she went, while most of her brain departed to a realm of deep thinking. There were so many mysteries, no way to solve them, and too many risks to take for her to do anything she really wanted to. She could always explore, but it had to be a fair distance away from the Team Legend grunts so they didn't throw her in the dungeons for annoying them any further. Although the grunts from the previous day had been replaced, at least according to Blue, Crystal didn't want to take any chances.

Suddenly something in her mind clicked, and she knew where she wanted to go. The main building was the perfect place to do something useful without being bothered, as Team Legend never followed their prisoners there, as far as she knew. Sure, there were cameras, but at least Crystal wouldn't run into unwanted attention. Besides, she knew there were stair rooms there, but not where they led to. What was even on the second floor? Crystal couldn't recall Blue ever telling her.

She pushed open the door with a sense of newfound purpose, and headed for the stairs. She was so caught up in what she was doing that she didn't notice someone turning the corner from one of the halls branching off the main one, and crashed into him or her before she could move out of the way. Crystal fell to the floor, and heard a loud thump as the other person did the same. She rubbed her forehead, which had taken the brunt of the collision, and looked apologetically at the unfortunate soul who had suffered similar fate.

"Sorry," she said, feeling like an idiot.

The other person, a boy who looked about her age, got up and offered a hand to help her to her feet. "It's okay," he said, with a grin that made Crystal wary. "It's not every day I just happen to crash into a pretty girl like you." His eyes, the color of molten gold, flickered over her with a playful look.

Crystal's face turned red, and she felt a loss for words overcome her.

"Me?" she said at last, unable to keep the incredulous tone out of her voice. "You think I'm pretty?" She felt more stunned than she should have been, but the way the boy was looking at her made her feel tongue-tied and more than a little uncomfortable. Why was she reacting like this? She should have come up with a witty comeback or at least accepted the compliment before fleeing as soon as possible, but instead she stammered in disbelief and lingered like an idiot.

"Yeah," said the boy, his grin faltering for a moment before returning as dazzling as it had been before. "The name's Gold," he offered, sounding casual, but Crystal could hear the sly tone in his voice that warned her that he was trouble.

"Crystal," she replied stupidly, despite all her instincts yelling at her to run away. She watched him with big blue eyes, mesmerized by something about him that she couldn't figure out. What was wrong with her?

"Pretty name for a pretty girl," Gold said, winking at her mischievously. Irritation prickled at the edge of Crystal's thoughts. Was he making fun of her? Whenever anyone was nice to her, they usually were.

"Thanks," she said warily.

"I know we really have nowhere to go, but if we ever get off this stupid island, would you want to go out with me?" He gave her what he probably thought was a winning smile, but suddenly Crystal wasn't as fascinated by him as she had been the moment before. He was no better than everyone else who had used her for their own amusement, was he? Fear made her heartbeat quicken as she realized that she probably looked like a fool to him—to the boy who was probably only messing around with her because he had nothing better to do.

"No way," she said frostily. She couldn't help but think about all the times that boys had asked her out only because of a dare; the humiliation she felt the one time she had accepted. She thought she could escape all of that here, of all places, but she had been wrong. Not everyone here was as nice as Yellow or Red or Blue.

Gold looked surprised, and a little hurt, but Crystal didn't care. "I know that you only asked me out because you think I'm pretty," she said sharply. "You just met me, so you can't possibly know who I really am. You don't care about anything besides what I look like, do you?" First people only talked to her because of her brains, and now only because of her appearance. Did no one ever care about what was on the inside?

"Geez," Gold said, smirking slightly. "You don't have to be so serious. I just asked you out; no need to get so dramatic about it. You could have just said 'no' like a normal person." His smirk became more cunning; it looked like the expression of a prankster with no morals. "Or you could have accepted," he added conceitedly. His expression then became a little hurt, but Crystal knew that it wasn't sincere in the slightest. She felt a pang of resentment towards him as he went on. "I don't see why you don't like me."

The anger that had been simmering inside of Crystal became a full-blown bonfire at the arrogance in his words. "I don't like you because you're an idiot!" she snapped. His stupidity made her even angrier, and she had to fight the urge to attack him. He didn't even seem to realize that she was mad at him, even though all he did was taunt her! "It's obvious that you only want to go out with me because you think I'm pretty," she snarled, "not because you respect me at all!"

Gold only seemed amused. "I gave you a compliment, and you're angry at me for it? You should learn how to accept appreciation better. Plus, I never said anything about not respecting you." There was laughter in his eyes that made Crystal feel like she was being mocked, and she didn't like it at all.

"Whatever," Crystal spat, turning away from him sharply. "You don't understand _anything_; I shouldn't bother trying to explain it to you." She knew from experience that she couldn't show any weakness to people who wanted to use her. Gold was exactly the type of person that Crystal hated the most, and she couldn't let him get to her or her already weakened pride would be damaged beyond repair.

She walked off with her head held high, trying to maintain her dignity. She knew Gold was watching her go, although in amusement, surprise, or some other emotion, she couldn't be sure. He let out a laugh that made humiliation and hatred stab through her chest. She should have known better than to stick around and make a fool of herself when she knew that he was just like everyone else. Crystal tried her best to ignore Gold's laughter ringing in her ears as she walked upstairs to the second floor she knew absolutely nothing about.

The second floor was almost exactly like the first one, with many doors lining each side of a long hallway. The main difference was that there were no smaller halls branching off of it, and that the doors weren't numbered; instead, each one had a label that appeared to be made of strange symbols. The symbols looked a lot like letters, but with something unusual about them that made them impossible to read, despite Crystal's strong feeling that she should have been able to. Crystal tried each door one by one, but all of them were locked. Apart from the labels, each door was exactly the same, except for one—a door with a lock that required a pass code rather than a key.

Intrigued, Crystal studied the number pad, wondering if she could manage to get in if she tried hard enough. There were a fairly limited number of possible codes—if she was patient, could she guess the right one? Crystal glanced up and down the hall, and seeing no one, decided that she should try. After all, she literally had all day.

Crystal tried every code she could think of, starting with 1111, then 1112, then 1113, etc. She considered giving up out of pure boredom more than once, but she couldn't bear to stop after trying so persistently. Besides, she had nothing else to do, and looking at the unreadable label on the door filled her with such a powerful rush of curiosity that she knew she had to keep going. Eventually, her work paid off, and the lock opened with a faint _click _when Crystal entered the code 3275.

Crystal's pulse quickened in excitement, and she pushed open the door, imagining some kind of treasure in the room she had managed to access. To her disappointment, it only appeared to be a study. There was absolutely nothing interesting in it besides an old-fashioned-looking computer and a desk with a few drawers that looked like they might contain something important.

Crystal couldn't decide which to inspect first, but eventually the computer won out, as the drawers could easily be empty. She made sure it was plugged in and pressed the power button to turn it on, but her hopes plummeted when the screen stayed as dark as ever. The computer appeared to be broken, much to her disappointment.

_At least the drawers might have something in them, _she encouraged herself. She held her breath for a moment before opening the top drawer. She let out a gasp of surprise when she caught sight of a heavy-looking stack of paper in it. Pulling it out—carefully, so she didn't rip any of the pages—Crystal inspected the yellowing paper. It was handwritten and looked quite old. The words had faded slightly in some places, but other than that, the papers looked legible.

Crystal opened the other drawers, but they were all empty. She wasn't too concerned, however—she had already found something that looked valuable. She briefly contemplated reading the papers here, but decided against it. She remembered Yellow and Blue telling her about Team Legend's cameras, and there was too big of a possibility that she could be discovered going through their papers. Crystal grabbed the stack of papers, peered around the doorway to make sure the coast was clear, and jogged to the nearest stair room, trying to look casual. She pictured her undoubtedly guilty expression and decided that it would much easier if she simply wasn't spotted. She was a terrible liar, and she was clearly holding the evidence right in her hands.

After a few painstaking minutes, Crystal safely locked herself in her/Sapphire's room. She brushed some dust off the bedside table and deposited the stack of papers onto it, rubbing her tired arms. Paper was heavier than she'd remembered, especially when the stack she was holding was enough to print out a small dictionary.

A sudden sound from behind her caught Crystal's attention, and she whipped around in fear. Standing a few feet away from her was the mysterious Umbreon, looking as if it had been waiting for her. Crystal had only a moment to relax, realizing that it wasn't an enemy, before its ring-like markings began to glow hypnotically and she felt herself slowly falling to the ground, unconscious.

She felt betrayed until she realized that she was dreaming. The Umbreon must have put her to sleep so it could show her something. After all, it had told her it would send her another dream that night. Perhaps the Pokémon needed to tell her something urgent and hadn't wanted to wait all day to do so.

In the dream, Crystal was standing in the air, looking down at Team Legend's island from far away. The cage of stone pillars blocked most of it from her sight as it curled like talons, appearing to reach up greedily to grab the clouds. The stone claws were noticeably longer than they had been the day before, more spikes growing off each one to lock in the prisoners more thoroughly. For the first time since she had arrived on the island, Crystal felt utterly hopeless as she gazed down on their prison from above. She and her friends were such a small, powerless team against such a large group of enemies; even time seemed to be against them now. How could they possibly escape while they faced such terrible odds?

_Don't give up now, _cautioned a voice that Crystal recognized as the Umbreon's. The Pokémon appeared in the air beside her, materializing as Blue did when she was making herself visible again after using her powers. Hope filled Crystal's heart once again as her friend reminded her that she was not alone. _If you lose sight of hope, _the wise Pokémon warned her, _you are only dooming yourself._

_ I won't, _Crystal promised. _Not again. _She wondered if there was more to that message than it seemed. It sounded almost as if the Umbreon were giving her a clue; an answer to one of the questions she couldn't solve on her own.

_You look for your escape in the wrong places, _the Pokémon growled. _One of you is ignorant in the ways of getting away, and another is wise, but neither can figure out how to escape without the help of a third, who will be the one to find the answer. _The words were obviously meant to help Crystal figure out something important, but they only confused her even further. Still, the Umbreon turned away to leave, as if it thought she should now know enough to do what it wanted her to.

_Wait, _Crystal called after it, and the Pokémon glanced back at her. _What about the papers I found upstairs? Are they the key to escaping?_

The Umbreon's expression darkened. _You shouldn't touch what isn't yours, _it warned ominously, hesitating before answering her question only vaguely._ The papers tell you nothing but things that will make it harder for you to leave this place. You must learn, child, that knowledge does not always help you._

And with that, the Pokémon departed from the dream, leaving Crystal even more curious than she had been before.

AN: Okay, I bet you've noticed that I didn't tell you what Gold's power is yet. That was intentional; that was my attempt to not have everything explained through dialogue, and instead I'm going to reveal it little by little later on. Or at least that's what I'm going to _try_ to do. Dialogue explanations are so much easier to write, but I'm going to try to reveal it through the events of the story, because some reviewers suggested that I should do more of that.

Also, does anyone want to guess where the pass code for the study came from? It's not random. If you can guess how I picked it, I'll answer one question you have about what will happen next in the story, confirm/deny a guess you have about any of the mysteries, give you a hint about one of the mysteries, etc. Here's a hint for anyone who wants to guess about the pass code: it has to do with Pokémon, not the story idea I based "Pokémon Spirits" off of.


End file.
